Path of the Righteous
by VR Fighter 3000
Summary: Sequel to A New Life. After their grand adventure saving the world, now Rio and Meowth can finally relax and focus on their own goals... Or can they? Even with the world at peace, somehow they still manage to get roped into trouble while pursuing adventures and new discoveries. Comes with the territory, after all. Please review.
1. Chapter 1: One Last Test

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Pokémon in any way, shape or form.**

**Hello, peoples! This is the sequel to my first fan fic, "A New Life", set six months after the end. Once again, spoiler warnings. If you haven't read the first one, this one won't make sense. But if you have, then Imma drop you right in!**

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Chapter 1: One Last Test

**-Meowth's POV-**

"Eh?! Graduation?!" I cleaned my ear out to make sure I was hearing right.

Chatot nodded, "That's right. Graduation from the guild! If you graduate, you can leave the guild. You'll be rid of the harsh daily training program too. Of course, that all depends on your passing the graduation exam."

"Hey, hey, hey! Chatot!" Corphish called out. "Hey, hey! We've been around a lot longer than those two. Hey, hey! Why do Rio and Meowth get to take the graduation exam before we do?"

"They've already proven themselves to be worthy many times over. And after all, Rio and Meowth saved the world. It's only natural that they've earned the right to be tested." He turned to us, "And that's how it goes. We will soon conduct the graduation exam. I expect you to be prepared for it!"

Everybody else turned to the back of the group. Sunflora said, "Loudred took the graduation exam last year."

"And promptly failed! Hey, hey!" Corphish added.

Loudred huffed, "G-g-get LOST!"

Rio looked to Chatot and Wigglytuff, "So… What are we supposed to do for this graduation exam?"

Wigglytuff stepped forward, "I want you to explore the depths of a wood named the Mystifying Forest. You should find a place called Luminous Spring there."

Rio tilted his head, "Luminous Spring?"

"Yup! It was where Pokémon once went to evolve. But maybe because of the time troubles we had… no sunlight shines on the spring now. Now nothing can evolve there." My ears perked up at the idea of evolving.

_Huh, never gave it much thought, since I never could before… But… if my "potential" was reset… maybe, just maybe…_

Chatot snapped me outta my thoughts, "We want you to travel to Luminous Spring and return with its treasure. If you can bring that treasure back to the guild, you pass the exam. You will then be recognized as a fully trained exploration team and graduate from the guild with full honors!"

Rio and I nodded. I said, "Got it. Sounds easy enough. You ready, Rio?"

"But…" Wigglytuff cut in, "you have to watch out for one thing." We turned to him and he went on. "There you'll find… a frighteningly strong enemy. The grandmaster of all things bad lives there."

Rio looked shocked, but I raised an eyebrow.

"The grandmaster is terribly wicked. It's a horrifying presence that no one would ever want to meet… So… good luck with that!"

Rio and I looked at each other before Chatot called out, "That will do for the morning briefing! All right, everyone! Let's get down to work!"

"HOORAY!"

Everyone left for their posts and Rio and I started talking about plans. Rio seemed really worried. He said, "What are we going to do, Meowth? What if we run into the grandmaster of all things bad?"

I shook my head, "I dunno, Rio. Sounds more like 'boogeyman' material ta me. But, if it'll make ya feel better. Oy, Loudred!"

We walked up to Loudred while he was on his way to the sentry post. "Ya took the graduation exam last year, didn't ya? We got a question. What was the grandmaster of all things bad like?"

Loudred sweat a bit, "Ugh, I'm sorry, but I'm NOT allowed to talk about it. It's the guild rule. I CAN'T talk about it. But… I will tell you this. You're in for… a dreadful, terrifying time. What I went through…" He started shivering, "Even now, when I let myself remember it…" Then he ran away screaming.

I crossed my arms, "A gag order, eh? Hmm… What could they not want us to know about it…? Wouldn't dat make it dangerous for us ta go if we couldn't ask about da big bad wolf in da forest?"

Confused, Rio asked, "What do wolves have to do with any of this?"

Figuring out that I was thinking out loud, I said, "Nothin'. 'S a phrase where I come from. Anyway, guess we're going in blind on this one. Since we don't know what we might be fighting, we better be extra-ready for majorly tough opponents. Let's hit up Treasure Town and go get supplies. Might wanna give the dojo a visit too."

Always eager to go training, Rio nodded with a smile, "Good enough for me."

We went to the crossroads and, on the way to Treasure Town, we stopped at Spinda Café to let the others know that missions were on hold for today, since we had the graduation exam today. They all agreed, some less willingly than others (I'm looking at you, Savage.), and Rio and I walked into Treasure Town. On the way to Kangaskhan Storage to drop off our items before hitting the dojo, we ran into Teddiursa and Ursaring.

Teddiursa waved at us, "Oh, Meowth and Rio! Hi!"

I waved back, "Hey, guys. Whatcha up to?"

"We're going off to Mystifying Forest now."

Rio jumped, "What?! Isn't it dangerous there? The grandmaster of all things bad is supposed to be there."

They both tilted their heads and Ursaring said, "The grandmaster of all things bad? I've never heard of anything like that. You're sure you're not making a mistake?"

Teddiursa went on, "We go play in Mystifying Forest often. We've never seen or even heard of a grandmaster."

Ursaring waved his hand, "You must have misheard a bad rumor or something." He turned to Teddiursa, "Let's go." Teddiursa waved goodbye while they walked off.

Rio crossed his arms, "That was weird… If there really is a grandmaster, why don't they know about it too?" I thought about it for a bit, trying to put the pieces together

_Hmm… Wigglytuff gives us a warning about a wicked, scary villain, but people outside of da guild don't know about dis "grandmaster". Could it be a hoax to try and scare whoever takes da graduation exam? Then again, Loudred seemed scared o'… something. Might as well continue with da old plan._

I turned to Rio, "Either way, nothing we can really do about it. Let's just carry on wit' da plan ta prepare for super-strong enemies.

"All right."

We dropped our items off in Kangaskhan Storage, and then headed off to Marowak Dojo. While we were in there, I learned Assurance and taught myself Dig since it seemed like a good idea for strategy. But Rio didn't learn any other moves. I'm starting to think that Rio can't learn any more moves right now until he evolves. But, either way, we both got stronger. Each time we finished a training session, Rio volunteered to do the shopping for items while I checked the mission floor for good missions.

"I need ya ta pick up some seeds. Ya read dat book I loaned you, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know all of them yet, but I learned the ones that are useful in battle first." He tapped the side of his head with his finger in an "I thought about it" gesture.

"Alright, then buy the ones that'll be useful on cutting down tough enemies then put 'em in storage. I'll check the mission boards. Don't wanna get behind in the times, after all. We'll be goin' back ta work after we graduate."

We trained at the dojo some more until we felt sure that we'd be able to hold our own. After that, we went back to Kangaskhan Storage and filled the Treasure Bag with items. I saw that Rio mainly picked out Blast, Violent, Stun, Totter, and Reviver Seeds. I packed two of each of the battle ones and packed four Reviver Seeds. Better safe than sorry. I filled more of the space with Oran Berries, Apples, a few different orbs and our scarves. There was still a good amount of space leftover for treasure, TMs and any other useful items we might find in the forest itself.

We wrote in the book at the Watering Hole to finish, and then set out for the Mystifying Forest. When we got there, I let out a whistle, "Looks pretty nice, as far as forests go. You ready ta ace this test, Rio?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Then let's rock n' roll!"

As we moved in through the entrance, I thought about the two different information pieces we had gotten.

_One says there's a big bad wolf; the other says there ain't one… Well, kiddy story or not, it doesn't change that we gotta get to Luminous Spring… Guess we'll cross dat bridge when we come to it._

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**Finally finished! I was sick for a while, and then there were still classes to deal with, but now I'm back for Spring Break! Please review to let me know how I'm doing and give suggestions or constructive criticism. See ya all next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: Grandma is the Big Bad Wolf!

**I am so, so, so, so, so, _SO _sorry that I've been busy for so long! I am posting this new chapter now and, hopefully, will be able to pick up a more reliable pace. Quick note, events deviate from the game again, but only slightly.**

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Chapter 2: Grandma is the Big Bad Wolf?!

**-Rio's POV-**

As we moved through the Mystifying Forest, Meowth and I took note of the diverse types of Pokémon inhabiting this forest and the numerous invisible traps. After only two floors, we had gone through enough trouble for a whole other dungeon. Meowth was muttering under his breath and I only caught snippets of what he was saying.

"Freakin' traps… No type advantages… Ton o' heavy hitters… Oughta rename it the Frustrating Forest…"

We had a brief respite when we managed to locate the Hidden Bazaar, which was a welcome relief since Meowth looked like he was going to Bite someone's head off. We healed up at the Mime Jr. Spa, then moved on. After thirteen floors (Ironic…), we reached a clearing where a medium-sized glade bottlenecked towards a larger area up ahead.

Meowth looked around, "Thirteen floors of traps, enemies and just plain bad luck. Looks like we're at da end, though. And we still-"

A voice called from behind us, "Oh! Meowth! Rio!"

We turned around and Teddiursa and Ursaring walked into the clearing as well.

Meowth grinned, "Hey, guys! You're here too?"

Teddiursa said "yup" before Ursaring continued, "We often come play here. So how's it going? Did you see your grandmaster of all things bad?"

I shook my head, "No. Oddly, we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary."

Ursaring nodded, "See? I told you that you only heard a rumor."

Teddiursa tilted his head, "Why are you two here? Are you in search of that grandmaster?"

Meowth shook his head and said, "Nah. We're lookin' for Luminous Spring."

"Oh, Luminous Spring?" Teddiursa pointed forward, "That's just up ahead here. In fact, we were on our way there. Want to come with us?"

Ursaring nodded, "Yeah, come with us if you want." They walked around us and moved out of the clearing to the area beyond.

Meowth looked at me and tilted his head towards them briefly, "Let's go ahead, Rio. Safety in numbers, an' all dat." I nodded and we both moved forward. After we took a few steps forward, the ground fell away from underneath us. We screamed as we fell into a deep pit.

We landed hard and I rubbed my sore tail while Meowth pulled his face off the ground. I groaned, "That hurt…"

Meowth spat out a clump of dirt, "Maybe it hurt _you_, but I just got a face-full of nostalgia."

I looked around, seeing that we were in some sort of carved out arena. The only light came from the hole up above us. I growled, "How could we have fallen for such a simple trap?"

Meowth held up one of his paws, pointing with a claw, "Well dis one was well made. Put where we would prob'ly walk, hidden with same-colored grass and-"

Meowth's lecture on the finer points of pitfall traps was cut short as the place started dimming. I looked up and only caught sight of a shadowed figure dropping down as the hole closed completely.

Surrounded by darkness, I heard Meowth say "Weeeellll… this is one for the headlines. There's a big bad wolf after all."

I shook my head and pinched between my eyes, whispering, "Meowth, this is a serious situation. We may not make it out of here alive!" I reached out with my senses, but couldn't detect anything. _They must be really good at concealing their emotions._

Suddenly, an evil laugh echoed through the cave. I looked around and saw nothing. "Meowth! I think that we're trapped here… with the grandmaster!"

"Welcome… to the world of darkness. I am the grandmaster of all things bad."

I flinched and moved to my right, closer to Meowth.

Another voice rang out, "Humph! Not only the grandmaster, but more of us besides!" Then a second voice, "A BUNCH of us minions of the grandmaster are here!" The first voice spoke again, "You can't see us in the dark… but you're completely surrounded!"

The grandmaster laughed again, "Coming to our lair is the last mistake you will ever make. You're not walking out of here."

Meowth elbowed me lightly and whispered, "Rio, how many we dealin' wit'?"

"I can't tell. Their emotions aren't strong enough for me to sense."

"Yeah? I can fix dat." I felt a thud next to me, telling me where Meowth's position was before he started blubbering, "_Please_ let us go! We didn't come looking for trouble or ta barge in on ya turf! Please, please, please!"

I was speechless that Meowth was doing this. _Wow. Meowth is the absolute _last_ person I'd expect to drop to his knees. Why is he-?_ My thoughts were cut short as I heard faint chuckles all around and multiple flickers appeared to my emotional senses. _Ah… a quick thinker._

I heard Meowth continue to ham it up, "I'm beggin' ya! We just wanna leave with our lives, oh most cruel grandmaster! If ya want, just let _me_ go and keep my partner! All I want is ta _live!_"

_…_

_Why I ought to…! Okay… Calm down… At least he gave you a brief warning that he was going to pull one of his "strategies"…_

Then I felt huge waves of aggressive emotion coming from the opponents around us, giving me their exact positions. Meowth whispered to me, "Can I get a head count?"

I whispered back, "Nine… No, ten; that makes nine minions along with the grandmaster."

"How close are they?"

"About four feet all around us, in a circle."

"Shield your eyes."

I put an arm in front of my eyes and saw glimpses of Meowth's Flash attack, sending streams of light everywhere. I heard screams and groans all around at the sudden light blinding everybody. I allowed my arm to come down slowly in order to allow my eyes to adjust. Light was still coming from Meowth's charm, lighting the place up. Looking around, I couldn't believe the sight. We were surrounded by the other members of the guild, including Wigglytuff.

Only Wigglytuff seemed unaffected by the flash of light. He just blinked once as his pupils dilated and stared at us.

"Uh…"

Meowth's eyebrows arched, "Wigglytuff?!" He turned around in a circle, briefly blinding everybody again with his light, "Everybody else? What da hell is dis?"

Behind us, Bidoof muttered, "Well it sure is mighty easier to see. Was this part of the plan? This is all so new to me."

Chatot slowly lowered his wing, "Arrgh! What a farce…"

I shook my head, not understanding anything, "Uh, Wigglytuff. Can you tell us what's going on?" Everybody in the room turned to him. He paused for a while, looking confused.

"…Who's… Wigglytuff?"

Meowth and I both said "Huh?"

"I am the grandmaster. I know nothing of your so-called Wigglytuff."

_What is he going on about? He looks like Wigglytuff._

Chatot stuttered before saying, "Uh… that's right! And we're the grandmaster's minions!"

"Oh my gosh! That is so right! I don't know any Pokémon named Sunflora!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"Uh, yes sirree! We never saw you in our lives, nope nope!"

Next to me, I heard Meowth mutter, "Alright, I'll bite. If _dat's_ how they wanna play it…" He turned to me and whispered, "Rio, whatever happens, we got a fight on our hands. Keep dodging and keep an eye on that minion that looks like Sunflora. When she starts spinning around, throw a Totter Seed at her. Then hit the deck."

I nodded and Wigglytuff , or the grandmaster, said, "Coming to our lair is the last mistake you will ever make. You're not walking out of here. Prepare to face the terror that is the grandmaster of all things bad! YOOM… TAH!"

Unlike all the other times, this time a series of blue rings of energy came at us, distorting the air around them as they passed. Forced to split up, I could feel the energy coming off of them as they passed. _One hit from that and we're done. _I looked at Meowth for a moment and saw that he had drawn the same conclusion.

The ground suddenly shook underneath us as Dugtrio used Magnitude. I jumped in order to move to a new spot where the ground was smoother. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sunflora trying to hit Meowth with Razor Leaf while he was being chased by Corphish and Bidoof, but he dropped to all fours and dodged through them, causing them to fly past to where Corphish and Bidoof were.

"Ow! Ow! Hey, hey! Watch where you're aiming!"

I suddenly felt the ground start giving underneath me and jumped before Diglett burst from the ground underneath me. Shards of debris hit my legs, but I shrugged it off and kept trying to stay on the move while keeping an eye on Sunflora. My senses suddenly picked up something right behind me and I ducked as Chatot tried to use Wing Attack on the back of my head. As he flew overhead, I pulled out a cluster of Iron Thorns and started throwing them at him.

Unfortunately, he circled, dodging most of them and caught the last one before expertly twirling it in his talon and throwing it back at me. I side-jumped and the thorn harmlessly stuck into the ground. While it remained in my sight, I saw it vibrate slightly before the ground underneath me gave away and Diglett burst up. Temporarily distracted by the Iron Thorn, I got hit, but the embers of a plan started forming.

_I got it._

Everytime Diglett burst out of the ground, I dodged and threw an Iron Thorn at him. He always burrowed back under and the thorns stuck in the ground. I continued to dodge Chatot as well and stole a glance at Meowth seeing him jump up and use Loudred as a springboard causing him, along with Sunflora, Bidoof and Corphish, to crash into each other while he readied his claws and went after Chimecho, who had been lingering on the outskirts of the battlefield.

Croagunk had pulled away from Meowth's side of the fight, a few scratches on him. He seemed uninterested in continuing to chase Meowth, so I saw him look at my side.

I dodged Diglett again, ducking Chatot in the air, and threw an Iron Thorn at Diglett only to miss again.

_I've gotta finish this fast before Croagunk gets involved too._

I looked around and watched the ground carefully as Diglett had burrowed underneath again. Continuing to dodge Chatot, I saw the Iron Thorns forward and left of me start vibrating and following a pattern to me. I jumped, pretending to dodge Chatot again and landed with my palm on the ground immediately activating Force Palm. As the smoke cleared, Diglett's head stuck out of the bottom of a small crater, now injured. I immediately fired a Reversal before he had time to recover and then ate an Oran Berry to restore my lost energy.

"Rio!"

I immediately turned and saw Sunflora spinning around like Meowth had told me to watch out for. Without another thought, I pulled the Totter Seed out of my bag, confirming its color before throwing it at Sunflora. It hit her on the head and burst into yellow smoke. She suddenly started spinning more erratically and Meowth ducked to the ground before I shortly followed.

"No! You IDIOT!" Loudred shouted, "Call OFF your attack!"

"P-P-PetAL DANce"

Pink petals started flying everywhere and hit all of the other members of the guild except for Meowth and I, since we had ducked. Chatot flew through the petals and in front of Wigglytuff even though he seemed unphased by it.

_Wait, Wigglytuff hasn't been fighting at all. Is he planning something? Observing us?_

The petals stopped flowing but Sunflora was still teetering on her feet. Corphish, Dugtrio, Chimecho, and Diglett were all knocked out. Loudred, Bidoof, Croagunk and Chatot were still standing, but looked a little worse for wear. Wigglytuff was standing there unharmed, having been guarded by Chatot.

Meowth and I jumped back to the center and stood back-to-back. I was facing Chatot and Wigglytuff and he was facing the others.

I glanced over my shoulder, "Trade you?"

"Thought ya'd never ask. I couldn't stall 'em for much longer."

"I could fight better against them if you put out that light."

"Gimme a boost."

Meowth suddenly jumped and I crouched to the ground, catching his feet and throwing him as he jumped to the airborne Chatot.

Loudred ran forward and tried to run me over, but I stopped him in his tracks and pushed him back. I was about to use Force Palm, but Bidoof surprised me by using Rollout. I did a back flip to dodge it, but when I landed, Loudred was replaced with Croagunk.

As Croagunk leaped forward to engage me, I saw Meowth grab onto Chatot's foot and start climbing to grab at his wings. Croagunk started out with a few basic punches. I blocked a punch with my right hand and a kick with my left. But then I noticed that both of my hands were occupied and Croagunk hit me with a Poison Jab using his remaining hand. I was knocked back and felt the poison in my veins, but I knew that my scarf would filter it out right away.

"Meh-heh-heh. You're out of your league, kid. You didn't really think you could take on all four of us, did you?"

I glanced to my side and saw Chatot landing with an injured wing, trying to Peck Meowth off of him. Meowth jumped off and dove into the ground using Dig. As he burrowed down, the light he was casting rapidly grew dimmer.

I smirked, "Now I do." Then the light was gone completely.

**-Meowth's POV-**

_Better put this out while I'm down here. Wouldn't wanna ruin Rio's plan._

I turned off the Flash and moved through the ground. I listened for Chatot moving around up above. While I was clinging to him, I managed to get off a Slash on his right wing. He won't be flying anytime soon. Since he can't fly to dodge my Dig attack anymore, it gave me an idea while I was moving to him.

_Just gotta listen for his footsteps… There!_

I reached up, moving through the dirt and rock like water and grabbed Chatot's feet. I heard a surprised yelp before pulling him underground with me. With his wings restricted, I was able to finish him with Fury Swipes. Digging a branching tunnel, I resurfaced and came face-to-face with the "grandmaster". I could tell, even in the dark, that he knew what I did and was _pissed_ about it.

"YOOOM…"

Suddenly, I felt what it was like to stare down the barrel of a gun.

"TAH!"

Thinking fast, I used Substitute and slipped away, leaving a clone to take the hit. I ran off in the dark and quickly tired out cuz of the drop in energy needed to make a clone. As I caught my breath, I heard explosions.

_Rio must be busy cleaning up. Helps when you have emotion-style night-vision._

After waiting for it to quiet down, I used my ears to track down Mr. Mouth-Breather.

"Rio."

I heard him yelp then hiss, "Don't sneak up on me!"

"Wigglytuff will find us in the dark. I'm using Flash again."

I lit the place up and Wigglytuff was standing a few feet away.

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**I hate to cut this off here after such a long wait. But this chapter was winding up so long that it would've probably been over 4000 words before I was done with it. Sorry to have been gone so long, but I am going to try to update ASAP.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Happily Ever After

Chapter 3: A Happily Ever After… Right?

There was a silent standoff between the three of us. If we weren't underground, I'd expect a tumble weed to roll by.

Rio and I stood right next to each other and he said, "Why is he just standing there?"

"Dunno. Maybe he's-"

Suddenly, Wigglytuff sprinted forward. He was on us in a second. I gasped and tried to leap back, but he hit us both with Double Slap. We were knocked back and I managed to flip in the air and land.

_Damn! I tink he's even faster than Grovyle!_

When I looked up, Wigglytuff was charging at me with Double-Edge. I didn't have time to dodge.

_Substitute!_

The move let me move so fast that I left an afterimage clone and was undetected. And with how fast I can move, I can make any pose that I want at any time I want during the dash and still get away. For a bit of personality, I like to stick my tongue out at the attacker as my usual pose. Only downside is that it burns a good chunk of energy to move that fast.

I looked back and saw Wigglytuff run over my clone. He turned around and started singing a soft song. Recognizing it, I quickly covered my ears.

"Rio! Ya gotta cover your-"

*thud*

"ears…"

Wigglytuff started dashing to Rio while he was out, so I dropped to all fours and tried to get there first. He picked Rio up and was about to start slapping him. But I made the last jump and used Substitute to dash and snatch Rio away, leaving a clone for him to slap. He stopped with a grunt and it disappeared.

I had Rio's arm over my shoulder, but my knees gave out from the drop in energy. I put Rio down on the ground and started rummaging through the Treasure Bag.

"Alright, Rio. Don't worry, I'll hold 'im off." I took an Oran Berry, chomping it to restore my energy.

_Alright. Three more Substitutes now. Use them wisely, dodge if I can, and sneak in hits when I can._

"Why do you protect him?"

_Eh?_

"Whaddya mean? We're a team. We look out for each other."

He snorted, "Teams. Others only exist for your own benefit. You have no chance of beating me. My minions allowed me to observe your fighting style. If they lost, then they obviously didn't have a place as my minions in the first place."

_Holy Horsea. Either he's really in character or dis guy really ain't da Guildmaster if he's saying sumpin' like dat._

"I don't buy dat. Teammates help each other. And since you let us take down yours instead of helping them, you're gonna lose." I readied my claws.

"You will try and you will fail."

I snuck a Violent Seed out of the Treasure Bag and put it in my belt pocket. Then I ran forward on all fours, leaping with a Slash attack. Wigglytuff just sidestepped it, but I saw that coming, so I wrapped my tail around his foot and tripped him up. He didn't fall, but that short time where he teetered gave me the opening I needed. I gulped down the Violent Seed and dashed at him, using Fury Swipes. I put everything I had in it and kept on him when he tried to back up. I was cut short when he kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying.

I couldn't land on my feet this time, and before I could get up, I got hit with Double-Edge. I fell to the ground and tried to get up, but I couldn't. Wigglytuff stood over me, "You're finished. YOOOM… TAH!"

Rio dashed in front of me and took the shot, his feet grinding into the ground with the effort to not be sent flying. At first, I thought he was crazy, but then I saw the familiar red aura around him. Wigglytuff kept up the attack, all the rings of sound blasting Rio, but he took most of it to protect me. At some point, he planted one foot forward and his aura changed as he fought the force of the Hyper Voice to put his hands forward. He fired Reversal and the two attacks met in the middle.

The entire chamber was charged with energy as the two attacks were at a standstill.

_Dis is bad! Rio will tire out first since the attack needs him to be at low energy to use it best. Wait! We had two of 'em!_

Fighting to stand, I reached into the Treasure Bag and fished out the other Violent Seed and fed it to Rio. His eyes widened before he concentrated and the Reversal beam doubled in size, the force making Rio's feet dig even deeper into the ground. It slowly pushed back Wigglytuff's Hyper Voice and blasted Wigglytuff along with the area behind him.

Rio pressed the attack for about two seconds before he stopped and dropped to his knees. He panted as he recovered from the effort. He looked at his hands and I saw that they were burned pretty badly. He looked up and screamed, pointing forward before wincing and cradling the hand he used.

I looked forward and Wigglytuff was still standing. He hadn't even budged. The ground and wall right behind him were completely untouched. He was burned from the attack, but he was still standing.

"Muah-ha-ha-ha… Strong… Too strong… Muah-ha… haaaa…"

He fell forward with a thud.

Chatot pulled himself out of the hole I left him in, still with an injured wing, "The grandmaster… Th-They beat him…"

Everybody started getting up, but they were shaking. Loudred said, "Everybody! RUN!"

They all climbed out of the pit, pushing the cover out of the way. Chimecho used her psychic powers to lift Wigglytuff out. I heard their footsteps fade as they ran away. With them gone, I deactivated Flash and Rio and I sat down to regain our energy for a bit with some Oran Berries.

I let out a breath, "Thanks for covering me, Rio. I owe you one."

"I think I'll need to use that favor now." I looked and Rio was holding his burnt hands up, "I don't think I can make the climb right now."

"No prob." I had Rio lock his arms over my shoulders and I used my claws to dig into the dirt and climb out of the pit. After we got out, Rio climbed off me and said, "What do you think that was all about? I mean, I'm glad that we made it out of there, but…"

"Meh, I wouldn't try ta tink about it too hard. Let's move on to Luminous Spring."

We walked around the pit and moved forward. When we left the clearing, we ran into Teddiursa and Ursaring. They were looking at a yellow box. I called out to them.

They both turned and Ursaring said, "Oh, it's you! What happened to you two? I thought you two were tagging along right behind us."

Rio hid his burned hands behind his back and we both said, "Something came up."

Changing the subject, I said, "What's dat?" pointing to the box between the two of them.

"A treasure box."

Teddiursa tilted his head, "There wasn't a treasure box here before. I want to open it, but I'm also getting a creepy feeling from it."

Ursaring crossed his arms and nodded, "You know, it'd be nasty if it's a booby trap or something. So we've been debating whether we should open it or leave it be."

"'S probably for us. We're here because it's the guild's graduation exam. They told us ta bring back the treasure of dis place."

"That's it! That box must have something to do with your exam. You guys should open it."

"Wait." I turned to Rio and he went on, "I should probably check to make sure it isn't a trap. I think I might be able to see something."

He stepped forward and cringed as he put his hand on the box. After a bit, his head suddenly bent down and then took his hand off. He shook his head to clear it, then said, "Yeah, Wifflytuff set this box here. It should be safe."

He opened the treasure box and reached in, pulling out a Perfect Apple.

I stared at it, "_Dis_ is the treasure of Luminous Spring?"

Rio sighed and put it in the Treasure Bag, "It suits Wigglytuff, I guess. There's no better treasure than his favorite food."

Then there was a flash of light. Everybody looked around and then there was a bright flash from up ahead. When it cleared, a ray of light was shining on the lake.

Ursaring said, "Light… Light is shining down!"

Teddiursa added, "Oh, then maybe…! Did Luminous Spring regain its power?" We shuffled forward and stepped into the shallow water. A voice rang out of nowhere.

**_Those that seek awakening…_**

Rio looked around, "Where's that voice coming from?"

**_The resumption of time… has brought light here again. If you seek evolution, step forward._**

Teddiursa jumped up, "I knew it! I knew that Luminous Spring would be revived!"

Ursaring pat him on the back, "Good for you, Teddiursa! You've been looking forward to evolution for a long time!"

"Yup!"

Rio tilted his head, "Evolution? Wigglytuff mentioned it, but what is evolution?"

Ursaring's eyebrows raised, "Oh, you don't know what evolution is? What it means to evolve?"

Teddiursa explained, "Some kinds of Pokémon can evolve if specific conditions are first met. When a Pokémon evolves, its appearance changes, sometimes dramatically."

Ursaring went on, "And it may not just be how you look that changes, either. When you evolve, sometimes your form and abilities can even change. How about that?"

Rio nodded, "Really? That's interesting."

Teddiursa nodded, "I've wanted to get stronger. So I've been hoping to evolve for a long time." He turned to Ursaring, "I'll try it out right away." He stepped under the ray of light.

**_Those that seek awakening… This is Luminous Spring. Do you seek to evolve?_**

"Yup! Please!"

**_Do you need an item to do so?_**

"Nope! I don't need one!"

**_So be it… Seeker of awakening… Let us begin._**

The light shone brighter and Teddiursa (or, what I could still see of him) started to grow. After a bit, the light flashed then faded and Teddiursa evolved into an Ursaring.

Rio stared at the two of them. I had seen evolution before, so I wasn't too surprised.

Ursaring let out a cheer, "Yay! Hey, Ursaring! I've evolved!"

Ursaring nodded, "Congratulations! All the training you went through finally paid off!" Then he looked at himself. Looking back at Ursaring, he said, "Now it's hard to tell us apart… But good for you!"

Rio elbowed me, "What do you think, Meowth? Should we try evolving?"

I thought about it. _Maybe. If I really did start over like dat voice said, then I should be able to._

"Sure, Rio, I'll give it a whirl."

I stepped under the light and the voice spoke again.

**_Those that seek awakening… This is Luminous Spring. Do you seek to evolve?_**

"Yeah."

**_Do you need an item to do so?_**

"Nah, don't tink so."

**_So be it…Seeker of awakening… Let us begin._**

I waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. I took a look at my paws. Still the same. After a bit longer the voice spoke again.

**_No. Impossible… You may not evolve._**

I sighed. _Well, wasn't dat important to me anyway. Still…_

"Ya gonna give me a reason why? Is there sumpin' I'm missing?"

**_No. That is not it… It is not merely a problem of not meeting requirements…_**

"Well don't keep me in suspense. Teddiursa could evolve, what's different 'bout me?"

**_Why can you not evolve…? It may be influenced by a distortion in the fabric of space…_**

"What da heck is dat supposed ta mean?"

**_Why that should be, I do not know… But your presence… is somehow related to the distortion of space itself. And as a result of that, you cannot evolve…_**

In my mind, I was trying to work out what that meant. _A distortion in space caused by me being here? Could it be… dat since I was warped here… is dat da reason?_

**_No. It is not only you… There is yet another… The one behind you… is also forbidden its evolution._**

I turned around and Rio's eyes had widened. _Rio too?! Hey, he may be from da future, but dat's time, not space! There's a difference!_

**_That is all I can tell… This is Luminous Spring. If you seek new evolution, then you shall return…_**

The light faded and I walked back to Rio. "Well, Rio, looks like neither of us can evolve. Bummer. Well, we got da Perfect Apple dat was in da treasure box. Let's head back to da guild."

On our way out of Mystifying Forest, I took the fabric wrappings out of the Kangaskhan Rock and wrapped Rio's burns.

**-Back at Wigglytuff's Guild-**

When we got back, everyone gathered around and Rio handed Wigglytuff the Perfect Apple.

Wigglytuff raised his arms, "You've passed the graduation exam! Congratulations! You two have passed the guild's graduation exam! You did it!" Everyone cheered for us, but I stared at Wigglytuff.

He said, "Oh? Not celebrating? Are you maybe not happy?"

I tilted my head, "Well, yeah, I'm happy, but… we didn't do anyfin' dat special." Rio looked at me with his eyebrow raised.

Wigglytuff shook his head, "That's not true at all! Don't you understand that what you two did was incredible? You went and brought back a fantastic treasure in a Perfect Apple. But even better than that… You defeated that horrifying grandmaster of all things bad, didn't you?"

_Gotcha._

I raised an eyebrow, "Dat's weird. How'd ya know we defeated da grandmaster? We didn't tell ya we ran into him…"

Wigglytuff paused, his face unchanging, "Um… We heard it somewhere?"

"And sumpin' else… Da grandmaster… Dat was you, wasn't it?"

Wigglytuff looked around and everybody started to get nervous. He said, "Uh? I… I don't know? I don't know what you're talking about. G-Grandmaster of all things bad?"

"Me too!" Chatot added. "I know nothing! The grandmaster's minions? What are they?"

"Hey, hey! Me too!"

"Eek! I don't know any minions!"

Everyone laughed nervously.

I sighed and muttered, "Alright, but if ya happen ta meet him, tell him ta get some disguises for his group."

"Anyway!" Chatot cut in, "You two have now officially graduated from the guild! From now on, you will no longer be bound by the guild's strict regulations. You'll be free to operate as an exploration team totally on your own!"

One thought instantly leaped to the front of my mind. "Awesome! So dat means we'll get to keep all da reward money for missions?" I asked, hopefully.

"No." Then my hopes deflated. "Unfortunately for you, that aspect doesn't change at all. As before, you will still have to give most of that money to the guild. Graduation from the guild means you're still affiliated with us. Your team, Team Righteous, can operate only because of this guild. So you'll need to accept that as part of being an exploration team."

"Aww. If dat's true, then what's different?"

Sunflora spoke up, "You don't understand! Graduating from the guild is extraordinary!"

"That's right!" Loudred added. "I should know! Even I couldn't pass the graduation exam!" Then he seemed to be laughing and crying.

Wigglytuff said, "Anyway, you two have passed the exam with flying colors! I hope you'll keep up your great work as explorers!"

Chimecho added, "Congratulations, Meowth and Rio!"

"Oh my gosh! How wonderful!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Bidoof sniffled, "I'm so happy for you all… I'm… I'm…"

"Drop in on your old friends now and then!" Loudred added.

I smiled, "Thanks, everyone!"

"Congratulations, Team Righteous!" Wigglytuff cheered.

I held back a sniffle and just said, "Thank you, guys. Really, thank you!"

That evening, we celebrated with the other members of the guild. Right before we left, we got 10,000 Poké as start-up funds for our new team.

With a place to stay in mind, I led Rio to Sharpedo Bluff. I flipped the fake bush and untied the fabric strings tying it to the rocks. Then I kicked it off over the cliff.

"Why did you do that?"

"Dis ain't a hideout anymore, it's our base. Any schmuck messes wit' it, they answer ta us."

And later, we celebrated with our recruits at Spinda Café. This time, Rio didn't stick to water, and he was getting a little giddy after almost two drinks. Turns out he was a real lightweight. One thought kept me sober though.

_Distortion in space… Why do I get da feelin' it'll be our problem and not some other team's?_

"Hey." A slightly tipsy Savage said, "You said you used something called a Violent Seed to raise your strength? I wanna try one!"

Rio responded slurred, "Nah, I read the label in the book~ It said 'Not for short-tempered'."

Savage stood up, "And what does that mean?!"

Rio just leaned back in his chair and smirked, "It means what it sounds like…"

Savage looked ready to jump across the table, but Hogan draped an arm around his shoulder, the other holding an Orange Gummi drink "Hey~ Don't be a party pooper, it's time to celebrate!" Savage angrily sat back down and just gulped his drink in silence. Everybody chatted with each other and I slid next to Damus. He was looking over his Black Gummi Tea at Rio.

The quietest of the group, he said, "Rio seems to be having fun trading verbal blows with the others. He's usually more reserved."

I just chuckled and shook my head, "Yeah, but in the morning, he'll wake up with the mother of all hangovers."

Damus lightly laughed, another rare thing, and said, "I suppose so. Such is life." Then he took another sip of his tea.

Looking around, I saw Siltram (he had learned his lesson from the last time and got Pink Gummi soda instead) and Dash cracking jokes to each other, Rio, Hogan and Savage arguing over which of them would win in a fight against outrageous opponents. Heck, even Damus was getting into the spirit. Made me feel like a downer to be worrying now.

_Guess I shouldn't worry 'bout it now. Like Hogan said, 's time ta celebrate!_


	4. Chapter 4: Divide and Conquer

Chapter 4: Divide and Conquer

The sun shone in through the mouth of the bluff and I jumped to my feet, stretching out (both normal and cat-stretches), then took a deep breath and said, "What a bee-yootiful first day ta our adventures as a real exploration team!" Not being woken up by Loudred really made a difference in my morning attitude.

Rio grumbled and turned away from the sunlight.

I snickered and said "C'mon Rio, just _look _at dat pretty sunlight!"

He growled like a grumpy caveman, "Don't want to. And could you be less cheery? My senses are tied to my headache too."

I crossed my arms and grinned, "S'not _my_ fault ya can't hold your juice. C'mon, just shake it off. We got missions ta do." I had a small headache too, but Rio had really put away the juice last night. I pretty much had to carry him back to the bluff.

Rio grumbled a bit, but got up and washed his face at the little freshwater fountain in the corner of the room. After that, we started crossing Treasure Town when we heard a huge rumbling come from Marowak Dojo. Rio looked at me and we both nodded before going to check it out.

When we got inside, we saw Marowak staring at a huge hole in the wall. Rio looked at the hole and then Marowak and I said, "Uh, hey, Marowak… Ya gonna tell us what dat is?"

He turned to us, "The wall just gave way! And that big hole appeared where it was. Come to think of it… My grandpa mentioned this a long time ago…"

Rio tilted his head, "Your grandpa?"

"Yeah. You see, my grandpa built this dojo originally. And that same grandpa told me there was a very dangerous cave here. It was so dangerous… he had the hole sealed up so no one could get in. I remember that now. Back then, my grandpa used to tell me about that hole. And he'd never once fail to scare me silly…" Then Marowak's eyes widened. "Y-you two… You're not… You're not seriously considering going into that hole, are you? Don't do it. Don't even think about it. I… I can't guarantee that you'll ever come out of there…"

I shook my head, "Don't worry. I would want a plan first and my partner's a bit too tired to think about it right now."

On the way to Spinda Café, to meet with the recruits, we ran into Chimecho. She said that, since we graduated and were an official team of the guild now, we could change the leader of our team now. Even one of our recruits could act as a rep of our team now. It gave me some ideas about how we could divvy up the jobs depending on the strength of the recruits and even send a squad to train at the dojo. But she also explained that there were dungeons that only let us in if Rio and I were leading the team.

After that, we met up with the recruits at the café. They all waited for a plan. I took a breath and began.

"Alright, everybody. We got some catching up ta do. First on da agenda, now dat we can change leaders and divide da team inta squads, y'all need ta train up ta Rio and my level. Since we don't have dat large a team, one of ya might hafta go alone. For now, we'll be swapping out who goes into the dojo for da day while da rest of us handle missions. Right now we got seven-"

Someone cleared their throat. We all turned and a Skiploom was standing a little bit away from the table. Rio asked, "Can we help you?"

"Are you Team Righteous?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Who wants ta know?"

"Apparently, the guy who shoved this in my hand, told me to deliver it to Team Righteous, and then ran off to Craggy Coast. I'm a big fan of your work, by the way." The Skiploom hopped up and slipped an envelope onto the table, then scurried away.

I picked up the letter and opened it with one claw, then pulled out the paper. After reading over it, I put it down and said, "Well, seems we already made a name in da world. Dis is a challenge letter from a Luxio to us. He wants ta fight ta see who's better."

"Dibs. I get to kick his ass."

I looked at Savage and he already had the letter in his hands, reading the location. I held up a hand, "Hold it, Savage, don'tcha think we should send Siltram? He _does_ know Mud Bomb."

Savage scoffed, "I can handle this f***er. All I need is a Cheri Berry or two, case he tries to pansy out and uses Thunder Wave. Plus; _Craggy Coast?_ The f*** do you think that says about his strength? I got this. 'Bout f***ing time I got a good fight."

I raised my eyebrows, "Wow, Savage. That was surprisingly well thought out for you."

"F*** off." He folded up the letter then got up, "I'm heading out."

I sighed, "Well, I guess Savage is taking care of the challenge letter. We got two outlaws for Brine Cave; Siltram, you and I are going since you're da best tracker here and I'm coming ta lend some muscle."

"Can do, boss!"

"We got two fetch quests and a Probopass outlaw in Crystal Crossing; can ya handle it on your own, Hogan?"

"You bet! I've been to Crystal Crossing before, and I've only gotten stronger!"

"We got a Shedinja on da run in Foggy Forest; Rio and Damus, you two are on dat one. Rio can sense where Shedinja is, and Damus, you can use a Mobile Scarf ta chase dat ghost through the walls and over da water and it should be easy pickings."

They both nodded.

"Dash, you train first for today, and then you got this mission. It's a fetch quest ta Beach Cave. I know it ain't excitin', but after today, it'll be someone else's turn ta train."

Dash smiled, "That's okay! I heard about Luminous Spring and I want to be ready to evolve soon, anyway!"

I nodded, "We'll meet back at da guild later tonight ta meet wit' da clients and claim rewards."

I dealt the job letters and wanted posters to each of them and we all set out and split up, Rio waiting at the crossroads while Damus went to get the Mobile Scarf from storage, Dash heading back into Treasure Town to the Marowak Dojo, and the rest of us fanning out to our assigned dungeons. (**AN: I know that this isn't how it actually works, but, unlike in the game, Pokémon can direct themselves, so it's not limited to controlling one team.)**

**-Savage's POV-**

I used Brick Break on a Gastrodon, sending it into the wall. _Heh, too easy. Feels fan-f***ing-tastic to be in the field again. No orders, no rush, just fighting as much as I want 'til I get to the one with the balls to challenge our team._

I found the stairs again and went up, being bored with this floor. While I walked up, I looked at the letter again. _Lessee here, says that the challenger is on the fifth floor. Pokémon named Luxio. Sounds prissy._

I finished climbing the stairs and looked to find a blue and black Pokémon about half my height. _Wow, I almost don't wanna fight him. It'd be like kicking a puppy._

The challenger scowled, "Who are you? Only Team Righteous should be able to find me!"

I held up the letter, "Well we got your letter, and for your f***ing information, I _am_ a member of Team Righteous." I tapped the badge I kept stuck to the right side of my chest.

The punk snorted, "A recruit? Ridiculous! I wanted the leaders! You're not even worth fighting! I asked for the ones that allegedly saved the world! Can you understand that, or should I use smaller words?"

I was getting more pissed by the second. "Well, f*** you too. I asked for this mission, cuz I wanted the chance to kick some ass. Besides, they're miles ahead of anywhere you'll ever be, f***-tard!"

"Heh, if they sent a recruit, they must be too cowardly to face me themselves."

_Okay, f*** it. He's getting put in his place right f***ing now._

I charged forward, being much faster, and knocked him in the air with Brick Break. I lined up and caught him with Vice Grip so I could look at him while I crushed him. "Before I finish you, know this. _I'm_ the only one allowed to say s*** about my leaders, so f*** off." I crushed harder and he fainted. He fell over when I let go.

I looked down at the unconscious prick. _Great, now I need to carry him to the guild for the reward._

**-Hogan's POV-**

I dodged another of Probopass's mini-noses, and batted away the rocks he threw at me. I could only fight with one hand, and I liked the challenge, and I was still winning.

There was just one problem.

I held my other arm underneath me as I took the rocks with my back before breaking loose, making sure that they were still all right.

I glared at the outlaw, "Watch it, will you?! It took me an _hour_ to find these gummis for my other missions and I will _not_ fail it because they got crushed!"

I rushed over and dodged between his shots, and slid across the ground using Low Kick. He fell to the ground and rocked back and forth trying to get back up.

I smirked. _The bigger they are, the harder they fall!_

**-Rio's POV-**

_44… 45… 46… Can he even breathe in there…? 48…_

I ran along as best as I could, trying to keep track of Damus and the outlaw. I occasionally caught glimpses of them when the area widened to show water, but mostly, they were in the walls. I was following in case Damus ever flushed the Shedinja out of the walls. We both know Bite, so we can get through his defenses. It has been quite a long process, so I started counting how long they stay in the walls to pass the time.

_62… 63… Oh, they stopped._ I ran over to the wall where I sensed them nearest and Damus phased out of the wall, holding Shedinja by the wing in his mouth. The Mobile Scarf glimmered as he phased out, but faded once he was out of the wall and he was solid again.

I smiled, "Great job, Damus! Now we can take him back to Officer Magnezone!"

Damus nodded, "Thank you, Rio."

**-Dash's POV-**

_Okay, Dashie-boy, that's enough for today. Time to do that mission._

I pulled the letter out and read it. "Find a Purple Gummi? Easy." I walked down to Beach Cave and found the item in less than an hour. I used my badge to escape the dungeon. I found that it wasn't even close to sunset yet.

_Huh, probably have some time before the others show up. Think I'll grab a drink at the café before they show up._

I padded through the town again, dropping the gummi off in storage to pick up later, once it was time to meet up. I went to the café and was surprised to see Savage already sitting at the table.

_Then again, he did get a head start. Oh well, guess I'll have some company._

I ordered a drink and went to sit at the table. When I got closer, I saw that a Pokémon was unconscious on the ground next to Savage.

I sat down, "Hey. Who's your friend?"

Savage, being Savage, glared at me and said, "He's not my f***ing friend. He's the challenger. I had to carry him all the way back, just to have to f***ing wait for everyone else."

"Shouldn't we wake him up? It can't be healthy for him to sleep on the floor."

"He's f***ing annoying. I'll wake him when it's time for him to pay up for losing."

I laughed, "Well, I'm sure that they won't be much longer."

**-Meowth's POV-**

Siltram and I were back-to-back.

Behind me, Siltram said, "Two outlaws, huh? Never said one of those outlaws had a gang…"

I looked over my shoulder, "Look on da bright side. At least ya weren't sent here alone."

The first outlaw we were after was a Bonsly and it had a gang of Sudowoodo. Seemed like it should be the other way around to me.

"Whelp, we're not gonna bag the outlaw standin' here." I used Flash to stun the enemies around us and moved around using Faint Attack on 'em while they were stunned. Siltram stayed in the center and shot Mud Bombs. While he was keeping the grunts busy, I made a beeline for the boss. He got ready to fight, but I pulled a Sleep Seed out and shoved it into his mouth.

"Shh… Just gonna take you to da nice police officer," I said with a smile.

He fell asleep and I picked him up, after some effort. "Siltram, I got the boss! Let's am-scray!" We got to the stairs and, after going to the next floor, Siltram tied up the outlaw with slime and we moved on to the other mission.

**-Later, that evening-**

We all got back from our missions and lined up, holding our items and/or outlaws to meet our clients on the Mission floor. Well, Savage seemed to have his client already here. He slapped him awake and the Luxio yelped and backed away from Savage. He looked around and saw Rio and me.

"Oh! Uh, you must be the leaders of Team Righteous. I've heard good things about you! Uh…" He seemed to be nervously glancing at Savage. "Anyway! You're recruit; he won the fight in your stead. Here is the reward; 4,500 Poké (450) and a Weather Band. Good fight andeverythingokaythanksbye!" He practically ran away up the ladder.

Next, Officer Magnezone came to claim the outlaws and gave Hogan, Damus, Rio, Siltram and me the bounties and item rewards. In one of them, we got a Shiny Stone. I remembered that it helps some Pokémon evolve. I made a note in my mind to put it in storage.

Hogan's other clients came next; Gloom came to claim the Silver Gummi, thanking Hogan with a Reviver Seed. His second client, a Ralts, came down and thanked him as he handed over the Gold Gummi. Turning to Rio and I, she asked to join our team as thanks for helping her out. Mulling it over, we didn't have a Psychic-type, so we agreed and gave her the nickname Rose. **(AN: After the Street Fighter character.) **She thanked us and went off to sign up at Chimecho's desk. Odd thing, I noticed that she seemed to be sneaking glances at Hogan while we were thinking it over.

After she left, Dash was looking around and he checked the letter again. "My client doesn't seem to be here."

I walked over to him, "Well, what's da name on da letter? Maybe he's here and ya just don't know what he looks like."

He balanced the gummi on his head and pulled up the letter to get a closer look, "I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce it. Guh- Gah-"

"Gastly."

"Thanks, Meowth."

I raised an eyebrow, "I didn't say dat. I thought you did." Suddenly, I felt the air get colder. I could feel something blow across my shoulder. I slowly turned my head…

"BLAAAAH!"

"WAAAAAH!" I jumped away from the terrifying face in front of me. It was a Gastly. Why did it have to be a Gastly?! I got flashbacks of the Pokémon Tower. A carousel… spinning… and spinning… and spinning!

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The Gastly tilted his head down as he laughed, "You should have seen the look on your face! Ha ha ha ha ha!" He turned to Dash, "Thank you for retrieving my favorite snack." He reached out with his tongue and snatched it right off of Dash's head before eating it and going on, "I'd like to offer my services in exchange. You grant applications liberally, correct?"

I shook my head frantically, "No, no, no! I don't think dat we'll have a use for you."

The Gastly narrowed his eyes and grinned, "Come now, don't let this opportunity slip from your paws on the account of some harmless fun." He floated closer, "Think of what I just did. Even your emotion-sensing friend didn't detect me. I've observed your team for awhile, and I'll surely make a great reconnaissance agent."

I looked at Rio and he shrugged his shoulders. I hated that his words made too much sense. I took a deep breath, "Alright, but dat means you hafta-" I turned back and Gastly was gone.

"Have to what?" I screamed and jumped forward as Gastly floated out of the wall behind me.

I shouted, "It means ya hafta _stop doin' that!_"

He chuckled, "No promises. I'll stop when it stops being fun. So, what's my nickname? I want it to be something classy."

"Fine," I deadpanned. "You're nickname is Vlad."

He raised an eyebrow and thought about it, "I could've come up with something better, but I suppose it shall grow on me. I'm off to go sign up!" He flew over to Chimecho's desk just as Rose was leaving.

I sighed and pinched between my eyes. _Two new recruits in one day? Sure is gettin' interesting…_


	5. Chapter 5: The Sky's the Limit

Chapter 5: The Sky's the Limit

**-The Next Day-**

I let out a yawn as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Yesterday was pretty rough on all of us since we were catching up on backed-up missions, but today should be easier. We can look around for missions again and start with a lighter workload. I looked and Rio was already up and about, eating an Apple for breakfast. He tossed me one and asked, "So what are we going to do today?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Eh, I figured we'd wing it today and see what's available."

I ate the Apple and got up, stretching out before Rio and I started making our way to Treasure Town. I stopped off at Kangaskhan Storage to drop off the Shiny Stone and we were about to go meet the rest of the team at Spinda Café, but there were a coupla Pokémon, a Mr. Mime and an Octillery, looking at the sign outside of the place.

I walked up and, when I got closer, I could hear chatting coming from inside the café. I waved at the Pokémon standing in front of the sign, "Yo! What's all da hubbub?"

Mr. Mime turned to us, "It seems like there's some happy news for all the explorers."

The Octillery tilted her head, "I wonder what kind of happy news. Now I'm really interested. I'm going to find out."

Octillery went down the stairs and Mr. Mime followed soon after.

I raised an eyebrow, "Huh. Déjà vu. Whaddya think, Rio? Wanna check it out?"

Rio just shrugged, "I don't see why not."

We went down and quickly found the rest of our team in the crowd. Taking our spot in the crowd, we waited for Spinda to begin.

Spinda raised his arms and called out, "May I have everyone's attention, please? First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules!" Everyone was quiet now and he went on, "I've got some happy news for everyone today! Has anyone ever heard of a mountain called Sky Peak?"

There was someone in the crowd, repeating the name, before Mr. Mime spoke up, "I've heard of it. It's a rally tall mountain to the east. It's said that the mountain is so tall, it almost reaches beyond the sky. But it's surrounded by an impassable mountain range, so the route there has been lost. That's why it hasn't been fully explored yet."

Spinda nodded, "Yes, that's absolutely right. You sure do know your stuff. Just as Mr. Mime said, Sky Peak has not been fully explored… So it still holds many mysteries. High enough to reach beyond the sky! A mysterious mountain that still holds many secrets…" he threw his arms up and shouted, "That sounds like enough to catch the interest of any explorer! Let's go and see! See for ourselves!"

He calmed back down and said, "If that's what you're thinking, then we are ready to fulfill that wish through Project P… We've been working on reclaiming the path to Sky Peak…" He shook with excitement, and then threw his arms up again, "And finally, a couple of days ago… we succeeded!" Everybody cheered happily. "Furthermore! Fur-ther-more! Not only did we succeed in reclaiming the path… We also made a discovery! At the base of the mountain, we found a small, hidden village!"

Everyone cheered again, somebody making a comment about how ninjas might be there. Spinda said, "Of course, it's not a village of ninjas… Instead, some very rare Pokémon known as Shaymin live there."

One of the Pokémon asked about Shaymin, but Spinda said, "I'm afraid I don't know much about them either… But they are incredibly cute!" An awkward silence fell on the room. I heard somebody behind us mutter, "I-I'm interested…"

"Furthermore! According to the survey team's report… On the outskirts of the Shaymin Village, they've found a mountain path to the Sky Peak Summit! This is a huge discovery! This mountain has not been properly surveyed in some time… Piles of treasure! Opportunities for new discoveries! So I think!"

I could feel the tension in the room start to rise. _Oh, so dat's how it's gonna be…_

"Furthermore, legend says that there is an incredible treasure hidden there that rivals all other treasure!" The room exploded in cheers and everybody was talking about the possibilities.

"Yes! And it is all waiting for you! I'll show you the location of Shaymin Village!" He unrolled a giant, more detailed map and traced out a path through the mountains with his hand. He stopped at the base of the giant mountain in the center with clouds around the peak. After everybody, including Rio, marked it on their maps, he rolled it up and handed it to Wynaut. "For more details, please direct your requests to the Project P survey team already on location. So, everyone, let's get moving, with hopes and dreams on our minds and smiles on our faces!"

Some of the Pokémon left, while others stayed in the café to talk to each other. We went to our usual table and we all started talking about it.

"Well!" Rose said, "That's one way to start the day."

I smiled, "No kidding, Rose. Dis is big. More than dat, it's a race."

Rio turned to me, "A race? How so?"

Vlad floated next to Rio and leaned in, "He means that the mention of treasure and the chance at new discoveries, ergo glory, will set off a mad dash to be the first team to fully explore the mountain."

Dash grinned, "Hey, I'm all for a race. The competition makes it even more exciting!"

"Unfortunately, not all of us can go." We looked at Damus, and Vlad sighed dramatically, "Why, you're just a _ray of sunshine_, aren't you?"

Damus narrowed his eyes, "It is the truth. Nothing more."

Rio sighed, "Sadly, he's right. Only four members of a team can be in a group at a time when exploring a dungeon."

Everybody was quiet, but I could feel what they were thinking. _"You're the leaders, so you're going, but who's going with you?"_

I thought about it really hard. _"A mountain dat reaches beyond da sky"… We'll need serious supplies for dat. And we don't know what we're facing, so we'll need wide type coverage. Can't take da newbies wit' us though, they need training._

Taking a breath, I said, "Siltram, Dash, you're coming wit' Rio and me. We'll need a lotta different types of attacks, since we don't know what we'll be facing." _Wit' Rio's Fighting-type, my Dark and Ghost-type moves, Dash's Electric type and Siltram's Poison-type and Mud Bomb move, we'll be pretty square._

Rose and Damus took it calm; I guess they saw the strategy. Hogan just shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Maybe next time." Vlad gave another dramatic sigh. Savage was just Savage, crossing his arms and looking pissed with the decision.

I continued, "Rose, Vlad, you two need training. You'll be spending the day training at Marowak Dojo. Damus, couldja oversee it?"

He frowned, "Must I?"

I raised my eyebrows. It'd been the first time Damus had questioned orders. Not that we abused his loyalty, but it still surprised me. He glanced pointedly at Vlad.

I rolled my eyes, "I know, he's annoying, but you know da ins and outs, strengths and weaknesses of our team better than I do, so you can figure out where they can fit. Also, there's no one better in da group for training those two. I don't got too good a grasp on psychic attacks or ghosts, Hogan and Rio are more 'hands-on' kinda guys, and Savage, well he's Savage. But _you_, you're like a middle ground. Plus, I don't want them ta get hurt too badly training in da mazes. You're going to help them wit' the enemies, 'til they can handle themselves." I waved for him to come closer and I whispered, "And I don't trust Vlad ta not get bored an' try scaring Rose."

Damus seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding.

Vlad chuckled, "Don't worry, Sunshine, I'll be good."

Damus groaned quietly. I turned to Hogan and Savage, "You two have a mission today." I slid them an envelope, "The client discovered a new dungeon at da peninsula to da east called Shimmer Hill. He wants an escort to protect him and offers a Poké reward, plus any treasure found in da dungeon. It's a 4-star rank mission, though. Think you can handle it?"

Hogan smiled and nodded. Savage growled and said, "Why do we get stuck with the normal mission when you get to go to f***ing Sky Peak?"

I looked at Savage and said, "I just figured you'd like da chance ta explore a new dungeon, where you can fight some _tough opponents_, more than sitting around and being on standby."

I could hear the gears squeaking in Savage's mind as his eyes narrowed, "… I know you're playing me, but you're right. Consider it done."

"Oh, before I forget…" I reached into the Treasure Bag and pulled out a fabric sack.

Rio looked at it and his eyes widened, "You still have that?"

It was the same bag that Grovyle had used to carry the Time Gears. I kept it, but it just gathered dust in the bluff. After yesterday, when I had ta fight with only one item to help, I figured that using it would help for when we had multiple squads going out. I wanted to make more of them, whenever I got some more fabric.

I handed it to Hogan, "Here. It'll hold a good amount of items. S'not as good as da Treasure Bag, but it's better than going in wit' no items."

I turned to face everyone again, "Alright, you all have your jobs for da day, so it's time to move out."

Everybody got up and Hogan and Savage were the first ones to start moving out of the café. Rose left after them, saying that she was going on ahead to the dojo. She was shortly followed by Vlad and Damus. The rest of us left Treasure Town, deciding to save some time by stocking up at Shaymin Village. There's always a Kangaskhan Rock at the entrance of huge dungeons.

**-Hogan's POV-**

"Yeah I need five Oran Berries, two Reviver Seeds, two Heal Seeds, and a Power Band." Kangaskhan went into the back to get the items I requested. With so little space for items, I had to be smart about which ones I picked. I would just have to hope that we would be able to resupply along the way in the dungeon.

Savage was waiting angrily behind me. "Why the f*** do we even need items? Items are for pansies."

I just looked over my shoulder, "You took an item with you last time."

"Yeah, but that's cuz I knew that prick Luxio would try to- HEY! Watch where you're f***ing going!"

One of the citizens of Treasure Town, a Primeape, had accidentally bumped into Savage. He shook his head and said, "Hey, it wasn't me. I was just minding my own business when I felt-"

"Don't give me that f***ing s***! You f***ing did it on purpose! C'mon, let's go right f***ing now!" He tackled the Primeape, who had no choice but to defend himself. I just sighed, "Excuse me, Miss Kangaskhan? I think we'll need two more Oran Berries," I called from across the counter.

I looked and the fight had devolved to a brawl with a dust cloud surrounding it. I slapped my hand to my face. _That Pokémon truly does have a hair-trigger temper._

"Um, excuse me, Hogan."

I turned and saw one of the most recent additions to our team, Rose. I said hi and she nodded, holding her hands behind her back. She smiled then said, "I'm glad I caught up to you. I just wanted to wish you good luck on your mission."

I smiled, "Thanks, Rose. And good luck with your training today. Just a heads up, Damus might be uptight, but he's just trying to help."

She looked down to the ground, "T-Thank you. I'll see you later." She turned and ran off.

**-Meowth's POV-**

Right when we were on the outskirts, Rio stopped and looked over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. Then his eyes widened and he turned back forward, walking again, trying to focus on the path.

I raised an eyebrow, "Poké for your thoughts?"

He walked faster, pulling ahead of Dash, Siltram and me, "Just… sensed something. It's not too important right now. Let's just focus on getting to Sky Peak." He pulled the Wonder Map out of the Treasure Bag and looked at where he marked the start of the path.

Dash looked as the map was held out, "We'll be passing by Luminous Spring, right?"

Rio looked at him, "I guess. We'll have to travel north quite a distance to get to the path in the mountain range."

"Could I run ahead to take a quick detour to Luminous Spring? I think I'm ready to evolve."

I raised an eyebrow, "Ya'd hafta get through Mystifying Forest wit' enough time ta catch up ta us."

He nodded, "I know. But I know I can do it if you let me run on ahead. Please?"

I sighed, "Alright. D'ya know where ta find da path?"

He nodded, smiling, "You bet I do! Thank you! I won't be long, just continue to Shaymin Village and I'll catch up." And with that, he ran off ahead, leaving a trail of kicked up dust.

Siltram leaned in, "Uh, Boss, are you sure he'll be able to catch up?"

Rio looked at me too and I just shrugged my shoulders, "Eh, if he says he can, then we should trust him. Now which way do we go, Rio?"

Rio looked back down at the map, "Uh, we'll have to follow along the curve of the inlet first and then turn right at the Waterfall Cave. After that, it's a straight shot passing around Apple Woods to where the path starts."

"Then let's move out."


	6. Chapter 6: 20,000 Leagues Above the Sea

**Decided to ditch the "x" part "n" chapter titles for something a bit more creative. If you don't understand the reference of this title, _obviously_, ****you don't (circle one each) watch/read enough cartoons/comics with clever title references.**

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Chapter 6: 20,000 Leagues Above the Sea

**-Hogan's POV-**

"You just _had_ to pick a fight with the _one_ Pokémon with bigger anger issues than you, didn't you?"

"F*** off! I was winning before you tried to stop it."

"Riiiight."

**_*Flashback*_**

**_"Here are your items, sweetie. Oh my! What happened?"_**

**_I started putting the items in the bag Meowth made for us, "It's just my partner, he'll stop eventually."_**

**_She pointed past me, "Well, I think he's already stopped, but the one he's fighting hasn't!"_**

**_I dropped the bag and turned to the fight, seeing Savage on the ground with the Primeape still stomping on him, veins throbbing on his forehead, marking each syllable with another stomp, "Don't-e-ver-try-to-blind-side-me-a-gain!"_**

**_I ran and spent the next ten minutes calming down Primeape enough to get him off of Savage and apologizing for attacking him, giving him an Oran Berry to heal his injuries._**

"Seriously, Savage, I hope you learned something about challenging random strangers."

"F*** yeah, I did. I learned that I'm going for a rematch! Finally, something to do back in Treasure Town!"

I sighed. _Well, at least he'll stop bugging me for sparring matches while we're on standby._

We reached the peninsula where Shimmer Hill was and a Torterra waited at the entrance. He looked down at us and said, "Are you my escorts? I expected someone more… experienced."

Anger grew in me from the insult, and I could hear Savage take a breath to probably tell him where he could shove his experience (and I was tempted to let him), but I quickly clamped my hand over his mouth and said, "I'm sure you'll find us more than enough to protect you, sir." The word "sir" left a bad taste in my mouth, but our goal wasn't to make the client hate us. A while back, since Meowth figured out that Savage and I would one day be good enough to handle missions as a tag team (and since I was the calmer of the two), he gave me some lessons in "schmoozing", as he phrased it. He said that it works great for working with stiff, uptight clients.

I continued, "Terribly sorry that our leaders were too busy to take this mission. And might I say that it is _very_ impressive that you discovered this dungeon. But where are my manners? I'm Hogan and this is Savage. We're members of Team Righteous."

"Team Righteous, eh? Glad to hear I got attention from such a well-known team."

I smiled, "You're too kind."

He let out a laugh, "You can stop now, kid. I already knew who you were and that you were my escorts. That was a test. _Far_ too many teams let glory go to their head and need a slice of humble pie. I'm not really that much of a hard-head. But it looks like your leaders train their speakers well for you two to not get angry about a jab at your strength. C'mon, let's go explore this mystery dungeon."

He turned around and led the way. I let go of Savage's mouth and he glared at Torterra's back whispering, "F***ing jackass."

**-Rio's POV-**

We made our way to the mountain path, skirting around Apple Woods. As we walked down the path, Siltram kept taking looks behind us. Finally, it got to Meowth and he asked, "Sumpin' da matter, Siltram?"

He shuddered, "Bosses, I get the weirdest feeling that we're being watched."

Raising an eyebrow, I reached out with my senses, not detecting anything in the immediate area.

"Rio, ya pickin' up anythin'?"

"No, noth-" Suddenly a high emotion source was closing in fast from where we came from, "Whoa! Something just showed up! It's almost right on top of us!"

We all closed ranks and something turned the bend of the path, obscured by a small dust storm. It charged straight at us and kicked up another cloud of dust as it stopped right in front of us.

"Woo-hoo! Glad to see I'm not late to the party!"

Something clicked in my mind, the voice was a bit deeper, but still familiar. The dust cloud cleared away and a Manectric stood in front of us with an Explorer Badge pinned to the center of his torc, which had expanded to fit his neck.

Meowth laughed, "Dash! You're back from Luminous Spring already? Ya made real good time!"

Dash grinned and shuffled on his feet excitedly, "I know, right? My feet feel so light, it's like I can run around the world! But let's move on. I was running as fast as I could so that I wouldn't miss the moment we got to Shaymin Village. That'll be one for the scrapbook!"

I smiled at the memory of Dash showing us drawings of the most memorable times he had seen or heard of from us or the other recruits in a blank book. Of course, with no thumbs, the drawings were mostly smeared Octillery ink paw prints, but it was a nice gesture anyway.

We turned another bend, Dash bouncing excitedly as he walked. After we finished turning, we were greeted by the sight of a lush, green valley with low huts made of branches and leaves. The place was filled with Pokémon. Some from Spinda Café, one group of three I'd never seen before (probably the survey team), and the rest were all one kind of flowery Pokémon I'd never seen before. More than that, the valley radiated a sense of joy and peace. The wind blew through and ghosted across our faces, bringing the smell of spring.

"Wow…" I breathed out.

"Ya took da word right outta my mouth…"

Dash moved in front of us, "This… is… AWESOME! Are those Shaymin?" He ran off to go talk to one of the flowery Pokémon in the village.

Siltram gaped, "This place… it's so calm and… clean."

Meowth tapped us both on the side of our arms, "Whelp, let's go see what we heard about from Spinda."

We walked into the village and saw Dash chatting with one of the Pokémon. When we arrived, Dash returned to our side and the Pokémon spoke up, "Welcome to the Shaymin Village! It's nice to meet you. My name is Shaymin. I live here in this village." _Spinda was right, Shaymin _are _cute!_ "Then again, all the residents of this village are Shaymin… That makes it hard to tell us apart, doesn't it?"

Meowth let out a good-natured chuckle, "Nice ta meetcha too! We're Team Righteous."

Shaymin tilted his head, "Did you come to climb Sky Peak too, Team Righteous?"

I nodded, "That we did. I'm guessing you know the mountain pretty well?"

Shaymin nodded, "That's right. We've lived here for a very long time. We're here to guide travelers up the mountain. But we haven't actually done that in quite some time. That is, the earthquake that happened here quite some time ago destroyed the mountain path that led here… So explorers from outside couldn't get here very easily, and they stopped coming. We were pretty surprised when the survey team walked into our little village."

Meowth nodded, "Yeah, dat _would _be a shock. And it explains a few tings. But, one other thing, we heard about some great treasure at da top of dis mountain. Dat a fact?"

Shaymin giggled, "What do you think? Our job is not limited to simply acting as your guides. But in the end, those climbing the mountain must discover some things for themselves. We are merely assigned to assist in those discoveries."

"Really? Sounds deep… I'll hafta tink on dat."

"By the way… Now that we've discussed all this… If you're interested, I could be your guide. What do you think? For some reason, while talking to you, Team Righteous, I've begun to really want to climb the mountain with you."

Meowth and I looked at each other.

Meowth turned to the recruits, "Huddle up, guys." We moved closer and formed a circle to talk to each other. "Whaddya all tink? It'd be good ta have a guide to lead us across dis here mountain, but that'd mean dat one of us'd hafta go back ta Treasure Town. If y'all want, I can-"

"No," I cut in. "You're our strategist. If we're in for a long exploration, you'll be needed. Plus I can't make heads or tails of half the items you use. I'm fine with staying back. Whether or not I'm here, this exploration will be in our team's name."

"Bosses," Siltram sighed. "You're _both_ too important to stay behind. I'll do it. I'm just a scout. It's no big deal."

"Guys, guys. I have a question." We turned to Dash, "All that matters is that one of us leaves the group so that Shaymin can guide the team, right?"

Meowth thought about it, "Well, I guess-"

"All I need to know. I'll leave the group." He turned to Shaymin, "Shaymin, our team would be happy to have you as our guide. I'll be leaving the group to make room for you."

"Yay! Okay, I'll be waiting at the mountain path entrance for you. The mountain path is straight ahead from here. Please come once you've finished your preparations. See you later!"

Meowth turned to Dash, "Are ya _sure_ dat you're okay wit' dis, Dash? What about da scrapbook?"

Dash smiled, "It won't be a problem. Don't worry! I'll see you off at the mountain path entrance."

I was in awe of Dash right now. Just a few days ago, he cracked jokes and acted like an all-around clown and now he was making such a decision. _Does evolution cause a change in personality too? Dash is suddenly so mature about this…_

While we prepared at the Kangaskhan Rock, almost all of the Pokémon in the village that weren't Shaymin left through the mountain path entrance. And then we met Shaymin at the entrance and confirmed that we were ready. We gathered at the entrance and Dash walked up beside us. I waved, "Well, I guess we'll see you back at Treasure Town, Dash."

He turned to us, "Treasure Town? When did I say anything about that?"

We all said, "Huh?"

A mischievous grin split his face, "Last one to the top is a Grimy Food!" Then he charged through the entrance heading up the mountain.

All of us, including Shaymin, were shocked speechless. He just charged into a giant unknown dungeon by himself! _Why did he do that?! He said he was… "leaving the group"… I retract that previous statement. I am 100% sure that evolution has no effect on personality._

I sighed and Meowth looked up the path as far as he could, "Well, dat's_ one_ way ta solve a problem of too many members. Shaymin, what're his odds of finding his way on his own?"

Shaymin seemed a bit worried, "Slim to moderate. The mountain is vast and tricky, but like all mystery dungeons, there _is_ a way forward. With his speed, and a little luck, he'll probably find a way through."

Meowth raised an eyebrow, "'Probably'? Ain't exactly reassuring… Well, now we got _two_ missions ta dis place. Explore da mountain and find Dash. Much as he was outta line goin' alone, we can't move on wit'out 'im."

Siltram and I nodded and Meowth continued, "Well, Shaymin, we'll lead and keep ya safe, but we'll need ya ta tell us which way ta go." Shaymin nodded, "Right. Don't worry; I'll get us through as quickly as possible."

* * *

**Sorry, everybody! I faded away for a while without explanation, but now I have an explanation. Sorry that this chapter has been put off for so long! It's getting to that time where I need to focus on my classes in preparation for the final sprint and final exam. Just like last semester in A New Life, I'll need to put the fan fiction on hold until the heat's off. I may post a few updates before the semester's over, but I don't see very many happening.**


	7. Chapter 7: Push Through the Challenges

**In case some of you were wondering why I go off on tangents, including the recruits' experiences instead of sticking to the main plot, this is why. A) It helps show that time has passed instead of just writing "'x' hours later". B) The previous story focused on the main plot a lot, so I figured that in this story, I'd have more room to develop on the recruits. After all, unlike in the game, they are not just faces or an amount. They are their own characters in this story.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Push Through the Challenges

**-Rose's POV-**

I ran through the Dragon Maze, doing my best to keep up with Damus. I had learned Teleport a while back, but Damus banned me from using it saying that I needed to train my endurance so that I wouldn't be too reliant on my psychic abilities. This segment of training only applied to me because: one, Vlad doesn't have legs and, even if he did, could just as easily slip into the floor or wall and travel any distance he pleased; and two, I get the feeling that it's also a punishment for showing up late.

Despite my best efforts to make it back to the dojo before Damus and Vlad showed up, unfortunately, they were waiting for me in the lobby. After I gave an excuse that I was checking Kecleon Market for useful items to buy and put in storage, I got a lecture from Damus about punctuality. And after that, I had to endure the teasing, wheedling questions that Vlad had about what I was actually doing.

In my mind, it was worth it. I just wanted a moment to talk to Hogan alone. It was very easy to distract Savage. One Fighting-type Pokémon "accidentally" bumps into him and it burns up his short fuse.

I didn't want anybody to find out yet. I had a feeling that Rio already knows (he senses emotions, after all), and I can only hope that he respects my privacy.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by an attack from two Bagon. Concentrating, I readied myself as one of them started charging with a Headbutt. I tried jumping out of the way, but my side got clipped anyway. I was knocked to the ground and I shook off the impact as I tried pulling myself up. _Athleticism is _not_ my forte…_

I managed to raise one of my hands and used Confusion to launch the Bagon into his companion, buying myself a bit of time. I struggled to my feet and got ready again as the two Bagon started getting up and getting ready to charge again. I tilted my head down as I tried to think of a way out, a loophole to my situation.

_I can't teleport. I need to dodge, but I can't move fast enough! If only I could make myself move faster… Wait…_

With no more time to think, I just acted on the next thing that crossed my mind.

**-Damus' POV-**

I watched waiting to see if the new recruit could hold up, yet ready to step in at a moment's notice and holding an Escape Orb in case I couldn't get to her. I gave a "tsk-tsk" when she wasn't able to dodge that first Headbutt, but was pleased that she was able to stand back up and even counterattack. The endurance training was helping after all. I could see that she was having trouble though. Rose seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. The two Bagon charged her simultaneously. I tensed up, ready to intercept them.

It wasn't necessary.

Rose glowed, the telltale sign that she was using Confusion, and then dashed out of the way with a speed that should've been impossible for her to reach. She circled around the two Bagon and used Confusion to use their own momentum against them and slam them full-throttle into the wall across the room. For the first time since I joined Team Righteous, I was legitimately surprised.

The glow faded and I walked up to Rose, "What was that?"

She quivered and fell to her knees, breathing hard, "Something… that I… thought of… on impulse. I used Confusion on myself."

I thought about how Rose glowed the instant before she ran out of the way of the two Bagon. _ I see… She used telekinesis on her own body to _force_ her legs to move faster. This opens up a whole new level of potential strategies, with some proper control. However…_

I cleared my throat, "Very clever. But…" She looked up and I continued, "By doing this, you've, again, relied on your psychic powers instead of your own physical prowess. Also, by doing so, you've taxed your body greatly by pushing it to do something it was incapable of doing. Such a heavy price can be fatal in the field. We will discuss this later, but for now… Good work and very resourceful."

She nodded, "Thank you." I threw the Escape Orb to the ground and we were warped back to the lobby of the dojo. Marowak regarded us and, as I turned back to the maze entrance, I said to Rose, "Rest now. You'll need to recover all the energy that you can until it's time to go back in. I will be checking on Vlad in the Ghost Maze."

She tilted her head, "You sent Vlad into the Ghost Maze? Isn't he weak against other ghosts?"

I looked over my shoulder as I kept walking, "Remember how Vlad had that habit of hiding in the walls when the fights started?" She nodded, and I turned my head back forward to hide my smirk as I continued, "I'm hoping that this will cure him of that habit."

**-Rio's POV-**

After a short while traveling, Shaymin said, "We're almost to the 1st Station Clearing." We arrived at a rest area where there was a Kangaskhan Rock. Several other Pokémon were here as well; several regulars to Spinda Café, as well as Team Ebony. I didn't know them personally, but I'd seen them from time to time.

Shaymin turned around, "Sky Peak has resting areas, labeled 1st Station through 9th Station. The 10th Station is, of course, the summit."

I looked around, but Dash didn't seem to be anywhere. Meowth, Siltram and I decided to split up, asking the Pokémon standing around if they had seen him. I talked to Sneasel and Heracross, but neither of them had seen Dash. Sneasel had nothing to say except that he would be the one to find the legendary treasure. Heracross seemed troubled that he had forgotten an Oran Berry, so I gave him one of ours from the Treasure Bag (we had packed, like, four or five of them anyway). He thanked me with an Escape Orb and said that he wouldn't forget the kindness.

We met back up in the center of the clearing. Meowth came up empty, but Siltram said that he managed to learn something from Team Ebony.

"Murkrow just ranted on and on about gold, but Shuppet said that he saw a Manectric wearing an odd necklace and an Oran Berry in his mouth go through this clearing about 10 minutes ago." **(AN: In the game, Pokémon can only ever have one item with them without a bag, but realistically, they can have an equip item and hold an item.)**

Meowth nodded, "Sounds like Dash. We'll need ta pick it up if he has dat big a gap 'tween us and him. Great job, Siltram!"

Siltram beamed, "Always glad to help, Boss! Info-gathering's my specialty."

Meowth went up to the statue and wrote in the Adventure Log. After that, he turned back to us, "Alright, everybody, we should move on. We gotta try ta catch up ta Dash 'fore he gets too far ahead. From da sound of it, he got a lucky first segment, cuz he got through really fast."

Siltram and I nodded and Meowth turned to Shaymin, "We'll keep goin' and hope we get lucky enough to catch up ta him. Lead da way, Shaymin."

We made it to the 2nd Station Clearing with little difficulty. The 2nd Station Pass was even shorter than the first one. I looked around at the facilities in the clearing and we were approached by a Breloom. We met the survey team, Team Frontier, and they explained how they built a base at the 2nd Station Clearing, since the mountain is so vast that rescue missions can't be done. They set up a Kangaskhan Rock for storage as well as writing in the Adventure Log and the Drifblim Gondola service.

When we asked around about Dash, Zigzagoon, another regular at the Spinda Café, said that he saw him charge straight through here. "Didn't even stop to say hello or to check out the new facilities. Guy needs to learn to not rush through life; passed through about 8 minutes ago."

After we reorganized our items, we got ready to move further up the mountain. The path forward led into a cave now instead of open space.

**-Hogan's POV-**

"S***! S***! S***! S***!" Savage tried to put the fire on his arm out, but he pointed at me, "Don't you f***ing _dare_ interrupt!" He was facing off against two Arcanine and he refused to let me help him out. He had said, and these were his exact words: "I can handle these f***ers. Besides, I live for these kinda fights, so back the f*** off."

I respect his reasoning (I'm a fighter too after all), but this isn't a challenge, this is borderline suicide. Not only are Arcanine faster, they also have Fire-type moves. Savage's armor-skin can't stand up to that, it burns like kindling. But I had to stay with the escort because, not only was it the mission, Savage would never forgive me for trying to save his foul-tempered ass.

Savage crouched and took a Flamethrower, and then charged forward through it, using Revenge. He used it to tackle into one of the Arcanine, snuffing out the fire attack, then used Seismic Toss to throw him into the wall. Leaping forward, Savage finished him with a Brick Break to the stomach. The Arcanine slumped and fainted.

_Dang, he's holding his own alright._ But then I noticed the other Arcanine charging, "Savage! Behind you!" He turned around just in time to get pounced on and the Arcanine blew a Flamethrower directly on Savage's face. After he was done, the Arcanine jumped back. I rushed forward, but a shout stopped me.

"Okay! Now I'm _f***ing_ pissed!" Savage jumped to his feet, parts of the skin around his face burned off, revealing soft tissue, "Do you have ANY f***ing idea how long it takes for stuff like this to heal?!" He charged forward, "Congratuf***inglations! You just became the guinea pig for my new move!" Arcanine flinched and tried to back away, but Savage closed the distance and kicked his leg, forcing Arcanine to take a knee, and Savage continued the assault, punching and kicking whatever he could reach, even pulling the Arcanine back towards him when he tried to run away. I knew I had seen that move somewhere. I imagined a Primeape there instead of Savage.

_Thrash. The move that makes the user lose all restraint and attack without a single thought… It suits him._

Arcanine opened his mouth to try another Flamethrower, but Savage punched his jaw, closing his mouth and forcing the fire to shoot out his nostrils and sending him reeling back. Arcanine fell to the ground unconscious, coughing out a fireball. Savage crossed his arms and hmphed before turning back to Torterra and me, "Told you I didn't need your help."

I pulled an Oran Berry out of the bag, "Here."

He glared, "Don't need it."

"Yeah, you do. While you were getting your ass burned, you might've forgotten we still have a mission."

"… Just gimme the f***ing berry."

**-Rio's POV-**

When we got to the 4th Station Clearing, we barely finished organizing our items before a shout cut through the general conversation in the area.

"HELP!"

Everybody turned as Octillery ran into the clearing, gasping for breath. Mawile stepped forward, "What's wrong?!"

Octillery turned and shouted, "The explorer Sneasel's getting picked on by this strange group near the 5th Station Clearing! I'm not much help by myself, so please, someone come with me to help!"

Machoke called to the rest of Team Frontier, "Move out!"

Breloom saluted, "Roger! Let's go!" Then they ran out through the exit.

Shaymin looked worried, "The 5th Station Clearing… Oh! Don't tell me…!" He turned around, "Rio! Meowth! Siltram! We should hurry too!"

We nodded and decided to skip on the information gathering this time. We ran through the 5th Station Pass as quickly as we could, but it proved to be significantly more difficult with other Fighting-types included as opponents now. But we got through and Shaymin called out, "I can see the 5th Station Clearing! Let's hurry!"

We arrived at the clearing and Team Frontier was facing down a gang of Carnivine, Sneasel at the center of them. Shaymin said, "Aha! I knew it!"

The lead Carnivine tilted its head, "H-huh? You came to h-help? What do you think you're doing?!"

Mawile snapped at them, "We're Team Frontier! Only cowards would gang up on one Pokémon! This time we're your opponents!"

The Carnivine ignored Sneasel and turned to face Team Frontier, "Oh! That sounds good!"

Shaymin stepped forward, "Hey! Wait a minute!"

Unhindered by Shaymin's words, Team Frontier and the Carnivine began battling one another. Machoke opened with a Dynamic Punch and Breloom rushed forward to tackle another one. Mawile hung back for a moment before beginning to move forward. We got ready to move forward as well.

"Everyone wait a second!" Shaymin called out. He dashed forward into the center of the group. Everyone stopped mostly out of surprise. The lead Carnivine looked at Shaymin, "Huh? You… Oh! A Shaymin from the village! It's been a while!"

Shaymin looked down, "We owe you…" Then Shaymin said, angrily, "You haven't changed a bit, Carnivine! We've asked you before to stop bothering the explorers, haven't we?!"

The lead Carnivine backed away, "Yeah, but, that Sneasel started it! We found some treasure earlier, and he snatched it right out from under our noses!" One of the other Carnivine looked around, "Where'd he go?! That…! He ran off in the confusion!" Surprised, I looked around for myself and saw that Sneasel was indeed long gone.

Team Frontier was shocked, "Huh…? Really?" "We all thought you were the bad guys…" Machoke just stood in stunned silence.

Shaymin turned to them, "Well, you can't exactly say they're the good guys, either…"

The lead Carnivine huffed, "Hey! We haven't seen you in so long, Shaymin, and this is how you treat us?! Meh, it's fine. Since it's Shaymin, we'll let it go. The decision to climb the mountain is your own. But I don't like to let Pokémon just do as they please. See you!" They turned to leave.

"Oy!" Meowth called, "Hold up, guys!"

The leader turned around and Meowth walked up to continue, "Ya've been hangin' around dis here clearing a while now, right?" The lead Carnivine nodded and Meowth asked, "Didja happen ta see a Manectric pass through here? Should be wearing a necklace; ain't hard ta miss." My eyes widened. In all the commotion, I had forgotten that we were also looking for Dash on this mountain!

The Carnivine all looked at each other, then one of them stepped from the end, "Actually, I did. He came in here pretty beaten up, sat down and rested for a few minutes and then left. He had a Reviver Seed held in his mouth, so I wouldn't worry too much. He actually left a few minutes before that Sneasel showed up. Why? He a friend of yours?"

I stepped forward, "Something like that. About how long ago did he leave? 5 minutes? 6?"

"Actually, about 9 minutes."

I mentally slapped myself. _Drat! Of course he got further ahead! We got tied up with fighting these Carnivine…_

"'Kay, thanks."

* * *

**Sorry that I've been gone so long! But it's still busy here so I've only managed to write this one chapter for now. I will continue to try to write whenever I can, but I can't make any promises of updates in the near future.**


	8. Chapter 8: Nothing's Ever Easy

Chapter 8: Nothing's Ever Easy

**-Dash's POV-**

I managed to make it through the enemies with only a bit of trouble. Recently I was more focused on dodging through instead of fighting every last one of them. I took out one or two that were blocking my path and then got my electric-charged hide out of there. Over the course of this dungeon, I had learned no new moves. Apparently evolving gave you a power and speed boost, but made you slower to learn new moves. I wish somebody had told me that earlier.

_Then again, thinking it over, maybe charging into a giant unknown dungeon with an unfamiliar body wasn't one of my brightest ideas…_

And as if that wasn't enough, it was getting freezing up here. The snow cut down on my speed, which is why I had to start actually fighting the enemies. Whenever I found an Apple, I ate it right away so that I could hold on to my Oran Berry until I found another Reviver Seed. Those things restore me to tip-top shape as long as I faint to use it. Sometimes I let myself be defeated while I had a Reviver Seed and ran away until the seed fixed me up. Not the proudest strategy, but it lets me start with a new burst.

As I shuffle-ran through the knee-deep snow, I let out a chuckle as I thought about what would happen when (not if, _when_) the others caught up with me.

_I am going to be in sooooo much trouble…_

**-Damus's POV-**

Reviewing the new recruits' progress in my head as I looked at the two of them in the lobby, I decided that this would be the last run for the day. It was never good to over train, and they may very well be called out to field work the next day. Or they could be assigned to training again; either way, it would not do for them to be too sore.

Rose, on top of the other moves that she already knew, learned Lucky Chant, Magical Leaf, Calm Mind, and Psychic. I had given her a stern talk about the potential uses of her psychic-athletics strategy. With proper control, it could very well erase her weakness to Dark-types such as myself if she used it to enhance her physical striking power by increasing her speed. But I also warned her about the potential risks. What if the enemy survived and she was too tired to retaliate? I warned her twice-over that she would have to train her endurance up further if she wanted to reap the benefits of her new discovery, as well as bringing to light that she shouldn't try it with any defensive opponents as it might break her hand instead of yielding results.

Vlad had acted like a problem-child the first few runs, but he eventually got into the rhythm of training and made progress. One of his favorite tactics was using Hypnosis on the opponent and attacking them in their sleep or making them see illusions. Personally, I think he just likes messing with his opponents instead of actually defeating them. Over the course of the training, he learned Spite, Mean Look, Curse, Night Shade, Confuse Ray (goodness, did he just _love _that move…), Sucker Punch and Payback. His arsenal is more suited to undermining and controlling the opponent while he stays in the safety of the walls and ceiling. Having sent him into the Ghost Maze, I feel that not only did I point out the flaw in his main escape strategy, but I also got across the message to not abandon the team once the going gets rough.

Never one to be slacking off, I resumed my own training once I ordered Rose and Vlad to wait in the lobby. Seeking a challenge to practice my strategies, I went into the Fighting/Psychic Maze. While inside, I learned Slash and Future Sight, along with the apparent fact that I had become over-reliant on Double Team to dodge. After a Hi Jump Kick from a Meditite that used Mind Reader to detect my location, I was caught short on what to do next. The moment of hesitation cost me dearly as I was finished with a Force Palm and evacuated from the maze. The only consolation when Marowak woke me up was that Rose and Vlad (_especially _Vlad) had gone back for one last session in the mazes mere moments before I was warped here unconscious. Never had I been so glad that they had disobeyed my orders.

This defeat was enough to give me pause while I waited for the two of them to finish. I had been brought down simply because my initial plan failed! Why could I not think of a back-up plan? Why had I not considered that a _Psychic-type_ would have a move like Mind Reader?!

_Stupid, short-sighted, arrogant!_

I shook my head as I mentally berated myself. How does Meowth do it? How does he see so far ahead in combat and in plans? I had heard tales of his triumphant plans against Team Skull and Dusknoir (The latter of which had the whole team angry at him for a short while.) as well as the numerous cunning or infamous outlaws that our team had captured over the months and it just seemed impossible that he could out-predict them so accurately. Whether chasing them down or fighting, he knows their strategies as if he's experienced them!

As Vlad and then Rose appeared from the maze entrance, I regarded them, but did not scold them for going against my orders to rest, and told them that we were done for the day. I led them out of the dojo to take them to Spinda Café for some Oran Juice while we waited for the other two squads to report back in. My legs were moving, but my mind was elsewhere.

_What's your game, Meowth? What's your secret?_

**-Meowth's POV-**

"Ahhh-CHOO! Gah, 'scuse me."

After Shaymin cleared up that little incident with the Carnivine, and Team Frontier apologized for just jumping into a fight instead of listening, we continued up the mountain for glory, self-discovery, and to look for that hypercompetitive little idiot that charged ahead of us. Technically he didn't go against orders since we didn't order him to go back to Treasure Town, but that was a level of stupid that would have Damus launch into an hour-long lecture about the dangers and "utter flouting of protocol", as I've heard him lecture Savage sometimes.

As we went through the 6th Station Pass, the area started looking more rocky than green. Once we got to the clearing, Team Frontier was there already and they told us that since the rest of the mountain was covered in snow, they wouldn't be able to set up any more bases. Hearing this, I made a note to prepare for the long haul when getting items ready. They also said that they were going to make a serious effort to reach the top.

Breloom waved, "See you along the path!"

Shaymin waved back and they both said goodbye. While Rio and I got ready at the Kangaskhan Rock, Siltram volunteered to go around the clearing asking for information on Dash. Rio slipped the bag to the ground and I looked through the huge drawer in the base of the statue. _Lessee here, if there's snow, dat means dat there'll prob'ly be Ice-types too. Also, it'll be harder to climb if the cold is sapping our energy. And ain't there sumpin' about height on a mountain an' air? Well, guess I'll pack some extra Apples an' Oran Berries to keep up our energy and keep an eye out for items on da ground ta restock._ After thinking over that there might be stronger enemies too, I packed in two more Reviver Seeds.

Closing the drawer, Rio pulled the bag back over his shoulder and I pulled the journal out of the mouth of the statue to write in. Looking closer, I noticed that there was some scrawl that wasn't Rio's or my writing in the side of the journal.

I waved Rio over, "Hey, Rio, check this out…"

_"__Dear Rio, Meowth and Siltram,_

_"__I'm more than halfway there now! I heard that there's snow up on the second half. Isn't that awesome? It's getting kinda cold up here now, but I'm no quitter! Team Frontier somehow always beats me here! How do they get through so fast?! I'm making sure to leave before them now! I'll get to the top first for our team for sure._

_"__Catch me if you can!_

_"__Dash"_

Rio scowled, "When I get my hands on him…"

I patted him on the shoulder, "Cut 'im a little slack. He just didn't wanna miss out on da action. It was a stupid reason, but I'll give 'im props for makin' it dis far by himself."

"He could get hurt!"

Siltram slithered over, "Exeggcute said that Dash passed through about 5 minutes ago. We're getting closer."

_Dash must be getting tired._

Rio nodded and I took the old wrappings out of the storage to wrap my feet. _Now's not the time to get cold feet!_ I chuckled at my own joke and turned to Rio and Siltram before waving Shaymin over.

"Alright guys, let's hustle! We're in da final sprint, so let's give it all we got!"

We charged through the 7th Station Pass and it turned out that there weren't Ice-types like I thought there'd be, but there were Flying-types. When we got through, Team Frontier was in the clearing and when we walked up to them, I saw that Sneasel was passed out.

Shaymin stepped forward, "What happened?!"

Breloom turned toward us, "I don't know, he had fainted before we got here… I don't know if it's because of the cold or because he ran out of items, but I do know this is dangerous."

Shaymin examined Sneasel, "This isn't good at all… I'll go get help."

Shocked, Mawile said, "Huh? Who are you going to call for help?!"

"There's a rescue expert at the 8th Station Clearing. We don't call him for the little things, but emergencies are different. Could you please keep an eye on Sneasel, Team Frontier? We're going ahead!"

Mawile nodded, "I see. We're counting on you!"

Shaymin turned back to us, "Let's hurry!"

He led us through the 8th Station Pass as quick as he could. We made our way through snow that reached up to my tail. Shaymin, being lighter, walked on top of it, but the rest of us were lagging a bit behind. Rio as usual didn't have a problem, but Siltram had to shake the frost off every now and again.

"Brrr… Hope I don't freeze solid…" He pulled a frozen finger off and popped it in his mouth hoping to thaw it out as he grew a new one. He only has so much sludge to work with.

"The 8th Station Clearing! Hurry!" The snow started to thin out until we got to a cave. Siltram let out a happy groan as it started warming up.

Shaymin led us in and when the entrance widened into a cave, he called out, "Ampharos!"

The Ampharos came forward and smiled, "Oh! It's Shaymin from the village! I was wondering who it was. It's been a long time! How have you been?"

Shaymin nodded urgently, "It has been a long time, Ampharos. But we don't have time to chat. We're in a hurry!"

Ampharos tilted his head, "Indeed? Did something happen?"

"At the 7th Station Clearing!"

"Ah… Here I thought I was going to have more guests, but it sounds like that will have to wait."

_Wait, more guests? Okay, hold it, Meowth, there's an emergency now._

I filed it away for later as Ampharos confirmed which clearing with Shaymin.

"You wait for me here."

Shaymin nodded, "We're counting on you!"

Ampharos left and we waited for about a half hour before he came back with Sneasel in his arms and Team Frontier following behind.

Over the next few minutes, Ampharos tended to Sneasel's injuries until he eventually…

"Oof… Urrgh…"

"Oh! He's awake," Shaymin called out. "Sneasel! Are you all right?!"

"Uh… Where am I?"

Mawile leaned in, "You fainted at the 7th Station Clearing."

Breloom added, "If Ampharos hadn't carried you here, things would not have gone well for you, seriously."

Sneasel turned to Ampharos, "You did that for me?"

Ampharos shook his head, "It wasn't just me. Everyone here came to your rescue."

"I see… I… Unnh!" Sneasel grimaced and clutched his chest.

Shaymin shook his head, "It's all right. You don't have to say anything. You should really take it easy and rest."

Sneasel stayed quiet and laid back. Ampharos turned to us, "All of you may go on through the mountain pass. I can take care of him. You were all headed to the summit, weren't you? This is the 8th Station, so you're almost there. Do your best!"

Mawile crossed her arms looking worried, "B-but…"

Ampharos held up his hand, "There's nothing to be accomplished by all of you standing here. I can handle this on my own. Go on ahead."

Breloom stepped forward, "Are you sure…?" Ampharos nodded and Breloom nodded back, "Well, all right. We'll leave Sneasel in your care."

Team Frontier started talking with each other and I walked up to Ampharos, "Hey, Ampharos, earlier ya said 'more guests', right? Did anybody else go through here recently?"

He turned to me and said, "Why, yes, as a matter of fact. A Manectric came through here short while ago. He wanted to go straight through, but I just couldn't let him. I forced him to stay and get some rest by the fire and gave him some food wrapped in a cloth. He wrapped the item he was carrying inside it and left a mere minute before you got here."

I nodded, keeping cool, but inside I was groaning in frustration. _We almost had 'im, but we lost him again! Haaah… But we couldn't just leave Sneasel like dat, we had ta help. And now Dash has a half-hour lead…_

"Thanks."

I turned back to Rio and Siltram, "Okay! Good news and bad news… good news is dat Dash was through here, so he's still alright."

Rio sighed in relief, but then looked back up, "And the bad news…?"

I rubbed the back of my head, "Bad news… is dat it was half an hour ago…" I grinned sheepishly, trying to pass if off as a joke.

Rio was not a happy camper. He wasn't a happy anything. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took deep breaths, but they sounded more like growls. Siltram, bless his cheeriness, lightened the tension, saying, "Weeeeell… No time like the present! Let's go and try to catch up!"

Rio took a deep breath and let it out, "Right. If anything, we'll surely run into him at the summit. He's running out of mountain to go to."

I didn't like how Rio phrased it like he was hunting Dash down. But I just reminded myself in my head that he was angry because he cared and was worried.

As we moved forward, I had one more quick thought.

_I feel sorry for you Dash. I've been the target of Rio's "worry" before. It's not a good time…_


	9. Chapter 9: Never Forget

Chapter 9: Never Forget

**-Dash's POV-**

_There it is! The summit!_

I ran to the clearing up ahead and immediately took a look around. _And no one in sight…_ I dropped the item I was holding in my mouth so I could celebrate.

"Yes! I got here first! Woo-hoo! Go me!" Then I actually noticed my surroundings. Or, more precisely, I smelt my surroundings. I cringed and took a good look around, "Ugh! What is that _horrible_ smell?!" Looking around more closely, the entire summit was covered in purple fog and sludgy pits. I shook my head, "_This_ is the top of the mountain? This doesn't make sense! Everything is all gross and gloomy… It looked better on the way up."

Then I heard a bunch of "schlorp" sounds and looked around. Sludge was oozing together and forming into shapes. Some of them were familiar, but others were far larger. One thing is certain though. I'm surrounded.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I may have bitten off more than I could chew. So, taking advantage of the fact that my teammates weren't here, I said the only thing that I could in this situation.

"Ooooohhhh… f***."

**-Meowth's POV-**

We had reached the 9th Station Clearing and Siltram spotted some items and slithered over to them.

Siltram sniffed at the cloth with the apple cores on it and then took a long sniff at the air. "He was here until just a few minutes ago. He must've fallen asleep; the trail's still strong. I'd give it… 5 or 6 minutes, maybe 8."

I was glad to hear that. While Rio talked with Shaymin, I asked Siltram when he learned to track smells.

He smiled sheepishly, "Well, when our team started getting larger, I didn't exactly want to be outclassed by the new recruits, so I practiced on the side. Didn't expect to use it for the first time on one of our teammates…"

Shaymin spoke up, getting my attention, "Well, at any rate, it's only a little farther up to the summit! Keep at it!"

We all nodded and I wrote in the journal. I didn't see anything by Dash this time. I slid it back in the mouth of the statue and we all started moving forward. While we moved through the Summit Pass, the weather started going wonky. Clear to cloudy, rain, snow, sandstorms. I had heard that weather can change fast in the mountains. I just hope there ain't gonna be a typhoon.

We got real lucky and found the stairs right away most of the time. After a while, the weather cleared up and Shaymin called out, "Oh! I can see it! The summit!"

We came into a foggy, filthy scene and Shaymin looked around, shocked, "Th… This is… terrible… All this happened while I was away for so long…"

Just then, a crackling sound came from up ahead and electricity jolted across the ground.

"Looks like someone else got here first…" Team Frontier walked in and Breloom looked forward, "… but what is this?!"

Mawile gasped, "Th-this is the summit?!"

Shaymin scowled, "No, this is…!"

Siltram took a sniff of the air and said, "Meowth, Rio… I don't mean to alarm you… But a place like this would attract my kind… lots of them. If Dash got here first…"

Another zapping sound came from up ahead and when we moved closer, I saw a bunch of bodies moving around, one of them much faster.

Electricity buzzed around the quick one and he charged into one of the large shapes, zapping it and knocking it off balance. We ran forward and Dash was trying to catch his breath, still buzzing with electricity. He dodged a Sludge attack and turned to us.

"Hey, everybody," He panted. "Come on in! Pool's open; water's fine."

Shaymin stepped forward, "What did you do?!"

Dash raised an eyebrow, "Hey, don't look at me! I showed up here at the top and this bunch of guys just attacked me!" He pointed a paw at two Muk and two Grimer. I noticed that there were a group of them further back that were unconscious. Dash went on, "Seriously, not as social as our friend Siltram here. I managed to defeat about half of them, but I've already used my Reviver Seed. I'm tapped out."

Shaymin turned to the Muk and Grimer, "This isn't your home and you know that… Please go back where you belong."

They droned on about how we were lying and that they drove away cleanliness. _Wow. Talk about one track minds…_

Shaymin glared, "Looks like we have to get them to come to their senses… Everyone, I'm counting on you!"

Team Frontier, sprang into action, but we hung back for a bit. Rio reached into the Treasure Bag and pulled out an Oran Berry. He put it down in front of Dash, "Join back in when you're ready."

He turned to join the fight and Dash called to him, "Wait, but I'm all out of moves!" Without looking back, Rio threw a Max Elixir, hitting Dash in the forehead with it.

Dash held his forehead as the bottle clacked to the ground, "He's mad isn't he?"

I started forward, "Big-time. Don't push yaself too far. Ya need ta recover." Siltram, Shaymin and I joined in on the fight. While I ran beside him I said, "Siltram, you use Mud Bomb as much as you can, but don't go getting hit by one."

"Can do, Boss!"

I wove between Machoke and Breloom, focusing on one Grimer to attack. I used Fury Swipes and followed up with a Slash attack before he could recover. He tried using Screech, but I circled around and used Assurance, slapping him over the head and shutting his mouth. Mawile came in for an assist, so I tagged out and went to Rio's side. He was dealing with a Muk, along with Siltram and Shaymin. A quick look around showed Dash dealing with the other Grimer and Machoke and Breloom holding off the other Muk.

Shaymin used Magical Leaf and Rio used Force Palm, but it wasn't doing much damage. Siltram was firing off Mud Bombs, which seemed to be doing the most damage. Getting an idea, I pulled Rio aside and said, "Rio, use Copycat to copy Siltram's Mud Bomb when he uses it!" He nodded before we had to dodge Muk's Sludge Bomb attack. The Muk used Pound to send Shaymin flying away, but Siltram stretched out to the side and caught him. After putting Shaymin back down, his cheeks inflated as he spat out another Mud Bomb.

Rio used Copycat and glowed with a brown aura before he concentrated it into his hands and fired a Mud Bomb from the aura. I followed on all fours after they hit and jumped with two Slash attacks. Shaymin fired a Magical Leaf and I was worried, but the leaves looped around and hit Muk in the back. I jumped back and got back in line with the rest of them. Dash ran up next to me and charged himself with electricity. I took a quick look to the side and saw the other Muk confused with Machoke and Breloom readying another Dynamic Punch.

"Look out!" I looked forward and a Sludge Bomb was heading right at me. I used Substitute and dodged it, letting a clone take the hit (while it was blowing a raspberry). I used Dig to burrow underground and circled behind Muk while I was underground. I broke through the surface and used Fury Swipes on the back of his head. As he turned around, I used Assurance to slap him over the head and used the move to vault off of his head and land with the others.

The Grimer and Muk all groaned and held their injuries. Shaymin stepped forward, "Have you come to your senses yet, Grimer and Muk?"

One of the Grimer tilted his head, "Huh?" Then backing up in shock another said, "Oh! Shaymin!"

"What happened while I was away for so long? You know that this isn't your home, right?"

"H-huhhh? This is so our hoooome… Seeee? It's all dirty and griiiiiimy…"

Shaymin looked down, "Dirty and grimy… I see… Nobody's come here for so long…" He looked back up to the group, "I'm sorry, Grimer and Muk. This is the mountain summit."

All of them jumped in shock, "H-huhhhh?! The summit?!"

"It can't be…!"

Shaymin shook his head, "I think it fell into disrepair because nobody visited for so long… But we can't leave the summit in this condition. Will you please return to your rightful home? Please? I'm asking you."

One of the Grimer looked around, "Wh-what? This is the summit? I didn't notiiiiice."

Another one bowed, "Sorry, Shaymin. We'll go home…"

Shaymin smiled, "All right. Thank you! I'll come visit with a token of thanks later! Bye!"

"Okay. Bye-byyyye!" They all left, slithering off the edges and down the mountain.

Shaymin looked around, "Where were we…? We have to clean this place up, restore it…"

Mawile stepped forward, "Restore it? It's so dirty, how could we possibly…"

"We Shaymin have a special power to clean up the land by absorbing dirt and things. Yet cleaning up this mess is no small task… Here goes nothing…" Shaymin took a more grounded stance and the ground rumbled slightly as purple gas seeped out of the ground and into his leaves. His leaves started turning dark-purple as he absorbed more and more.

Shaymin strained and said, "Get down, please!" Energy started swirling around him in a vortex and it curled in as his leaves lit up and there was a flash of light.

After it cleared up, the summit was completely clean, green grass and pink flowers with only a slightly cloudy sky and the sun shining through. Team Frontier looked around and Breloom was the first to give a comment.

"W-wow…"

Mawile looked around, her eyes shining with joy, "This is the summit? It's just such a change from what we were looking at before… It's so beautiful…"

Breloom continued, "I've never seen such a beautiful scenery before…"

Machoke just looked around, stunned.

Shaymin called out, "Congratulations on reaching the summit!"

Machoke cheered, "Wow! We did it!"

"At last! We've reached the summit!"

I looked around. _It _is _real pretty. The sun shining down; pink flowers growing all 'round; a picture of peace._ My eyes widened. _A haiku? James wrote those sometimes when he was in disguise… Gee… I haven't given a second thought ta Jessie an' James in a long time… Wonder how they're doin'…_

"Well, uh, we reached the summit… so I'll just be taking off. SeeyoubackatTresasureTown, BYE!"

"NOT… yet…" I looked up and Rio was holding Dash by his tail and he was kicking up dust trying to run away. Rio's feet were firmly planted and he wasn't giving an inch.

_Oh, boy… I guess here comes my reminder of Jessie…_

Dash gave up trying to run and turned around, sweating bullets, stammering "B-Before you say anything, I realize th-that I _might_ have been a bit hasty in my choice."

Rio tilted his head, almost casually, "'Might'?"

Dash shook, "Was. W-was _very_ hasty." Then he smiled sheepishly, "Seemed like a good idea at the time…"

Rio smiled, "I'm sure it did. I'm just glad you're okay." Dash let out a sigh of relief.

_Don't listen! It's a trap!_

Right on cue, Rio gripped the center of Dash's necklace and pulled his head down to meet eyes. Dash's legs bent awkwardly and his eyes widened as Rio said, "But if you _ever_ make me worry that much again, I will personally drag you up this mountain and throw you off of the summit."

I knew it was a casual threat, but that didn't make it any less scary.

Dash scrambled a few feet away when Rio let him go and Mawile called out, "Hey, everyone! Look over here!" We all walked over and saw a bunch of mountains from the range sticking out of the clouds. But up above, you could see the stars, even though it was daytime.

Team Frontier gushed praise about it and how they were glad they climbed the mountain. I was glad too. Everybody in the team had a look of wonder glued to their faces. I could see Dash trying to take it all in and look at every part of the sight, probably to try and draw it in his scrapbook.

Mawile, in total awe, Mawile said, "This must be the fabled treasure that is superior to all other treasure…"

Breloom turned around, "Shaymin… Thank you so much for guiding us here."

Shaymin beamed, "My pleasure! I had fun climbing the mountain with all of you! So thank you very much! Well… we should do this again sometime!"

Mawile cheered, "Yes!"

Shaymin smiled, "It seems like you really enjoyed the view from the summit… Shall we head back to the base of the mountain?"

"Yeah!"

The wind blowing was the only sound for a short while.

Mawile's face dropped, "… Heading back means…"

"Aaaah!" Breloom screamed, "We didn't think about how to get back down! You've got to get back down?!"

Machoke was once again speechless. I tried to break the tension, saying, "Well, they say getting there's half da fun…"

Shaymin laughed, "Calm down. It's fine. I'll take you all back to the base of the mountain, no problem."

Mawile tilted her head, "Huh? How will you do that?"

Shaymin turned to one of the pink flowers, "There's a special flower here called the Gracidea. It's a special flower for us Shaymin. How is it special, you ask?" He nuzzled the flower and his leaves gleamed as he transformed into a taller, leaner body with wing-like things on his head. "I just touch the flower like this and I can change Forme temporarily."

Everybody except me stood in shock.

Breloom said, "Wow… Are you really that adorable… Shaymin…?"

Shaymin chuckled, "Hee-hee-hee. When I'm in this Forme, I can fly."

Mawile gasped, "You can fly? That means…"

Shaymin walked to the edge of the summit, "That's right. Flying is so much fun! It's not much, but this is a gift from me to you! All right, let's soar down to the base of the mountain! Hold on tight!"

We all lined up, Machoke holding onto Shaymin and the rest of us holding on in a line.

"Dibs on the back," Siltram said. "I don't wanna get stretched."

**-Later, at Spinda's Café-**

A huge party was thrown at the café to celebrate the exploration of Sky Peak. All of us celebrated the day's accomplishments (while trying to politely ignore the bandages on Savage's face). I congratulated Rose on the making of her new fighting strategy and thanked Damus for training the two. While our team, along with Team Frontier got the credit of exploring the mountain, I made a special note with our recruits that Dash was the one who got there first.

"But don't tink dat makes it all right to go against orders," I said. "It's seriously not cool."

As the evening wore on, I heard talk of Siltram, Rose and Vlad talking about heading out for evolution soon.

Siltram elbowed Hogan, "How about you, Hogan? You've been ready to evolve for a while now, haven't you?"

Hogan leaned back into his chair, putting his feet up and staring at the ceiling, "Nah, not yet. I just learned Cross Chop in the field. Only a few more moves that I can learn. When I learn them all, then I'll evolve."

Rose smiled and said, "That's very admirable! But I think I could stand to be a bit less… fragile if I'm going to pull off my strategy."

Hogan shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "It's up to you, but you have my respect for coming up with that strategy. Not many Psychic-types would think to try a physical attack!"

Rose muttered a quick "thank you", and then drank her juice. I raised an eyebrow. _Rose always acts kinda funny around Hogan…_

Vlad added, "I would just like to evolve because I never realized the problem of not having hands until I joined this team." He slurped his drink on the table through a straw. Then I noticed something.

"Say, Vlad, if your body's made o' gas, where do ya keep your badge?"

His eyebrows rose and he grinned before opening his mouth and his tongue stuck out with the badge stuck to it. Dash fell over laughing and my jaw dropped, "Vlad! Ya can't hang it there!"

He casually flipped the badge by waving his tongue up and down while he talked, "Blell, _phugith meh_, buh thith ith wuhn oph thuh onleh tholid puhth oph meh." He caught the badge and rolled his tongue back into his mouth before going on, "And I was _certainly _not going to attach it to my eye."

Everybody at the table laughed (even Damus chuckled a bit!) and I eventually went along with them.

* * *

**In Japanese, the move Assurance is called "Make Sure", as in "Make sure he's down", so I feel that using it after a sequence of moves would be appropriate. This is just my guess, since it's never actually been used in the anime.**

**Also, for those who can't make the connection or are too lazy to figure it out, Vlad was saying, "Well, ****_forgive me_****, but this is one of the only solid parts of me."**


	10. Interlude: Pt 6

Time Marches On…

"Fraaank!"

_Seriously? I swear he must be doing that on purpose._

"Your boss is on the horn! Says he needs you to cover for somebody who called in sick."

"Thank you, Larson," I called over my shoulder. "Let him know that I'll be right over!"

"'Kay!"

"Growr?"

I put down the carving tools that I had. "Sorry, Growlie. I have to go back to work for a few hours." I pat him on the head, "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" He leaned into the touch and barked once. I chuckled and looked at the wardrobe I had been commissioned to build. The wardrobe itself was built, and I managed to finish the outline of the two Kingdra, but I still had all of the finer details to carve in, as well as varnishing the surface.

Running the numbers in my head, I let out a sigh as I stood up, "Looks like it'll be another all-nighter if I want to stay on schedule with this project." I only had four more days before I needed to deliver this wardrobe to my client. I walked over and pulled my construction uniform off its hanger.

Buttoning my shirt and hiking up my tobi trousers, I fastened my belt and grabbed my hardhat off the nightstand. Putting it on, I grabbed my jika-tabi and waved goodbye to Growlie again before closing the door. Out in the hallway, I pulled both of them on and fastened the clasps before I reached for my key and locked the apartment. I ran down the stairs and hurried on my way to the construction site.

It had been a long time since Jessie and I had arrived at this town. With time, experience and three guidebooks on carpentry, I've become somewhat of a fixer to these people, with the occasional design request; well-known locally, but probably not anywhere else. I got a promotion at my job; I now work directly on the construction of the buildings themselves. It was more difficult physically, but I grew into it. My shifts were slightly more flexible than other workers since my boss understood that I had my carpentry as well, as long as I got my 40 hours in during the week. However, sometimes situations like this arose where I was called in to cover for somebody since I either had my hours dispersed thinly over the week or worked a double-shift to give myself more time during the day to work on a project.

I haven't heard much from Jessie ever since she moved to a condominium about four months ago. From watching the news, I learned that she was promoted from just interviewing people off-camera to live stories. She took to it like a Goldeen to water. She became famous at the station for being the most daring and athletic reporter. If there was a story that required getting footage of a robbery, chase, or anything of that nature, she was the one they went to. Sometimes, she'd have Wobbuffet or Yanmega hold the camera to record if the cameraman couldn't keep up with her. Really, it's understandable. I know from personal experience that nothing can outrun Jessie and that she is stubborn to the bone when she is after something.

Having been promoted to live stories, she was actually chosen from several reporters to be deployed to represent our town's news station and do live interviews at the Sinnoh Pokémon League, which was shown on all the TVs in town. Heavens, was that awkward. Because, wherever there's a Pokémon League, the short twerp is bound to be there. And Jessie had to interview each of the winning trainers after each round since the one where the top 16 were determined. Since the twerp made it to the top four, she had to interview him three times. Three! And it wasn't exactly a friendly atmosphere on camera. The two of them were glaring daggers at each other underneath a thin veil of professionalism. I learned later that Jessie passed it off as "Getting into the spirit of the competition".

The only good thing about this event was that it meant that the twerp would move on to some other region where there was a Pokémon League. Hopefully, we'll never have to see any of those kids again.

With Meowth… I don't know what's happened. I haven't had any more visions since I helped Rio out of his doubt. I can only assume that it means that I'm no longer needed in the other world, and that everything worked out for the best. I don't know what Rio was doing alone, but I can only hope that the two of them are back together again.

I ran into the construction yard and jumped over a girder on the ground to report in, when a bright light shone right in my face, the entire courtyard was lit up. I shielded my eyes, but ran to a more defendable position behind a cement mixer.

I heard several voices shout, "SURPRISE!"

My eyes adjusting, I looked from my hidin- _strategic location_ and saw the other workers, the super and a few of my customers. Confused, I stepped out from behind the mixer.

"Er, what is this?"

Thomas walked forward, "Your birthday party! Don't tell me you forgot!"

I thought about it, counting off the months and days since I arrived. Had it really been that long? When I arrived at today's date, I felt somewhat embarrassed, "Okay, I won't. But why are you all throwing this party for me? Not that I don't appreciate it!" I quickly added in that last part because I didn't want to seem ungrateful.

_In fact… I don't recall telling anyone when my birthday was…_

"Well," the super said, "aside from showing our appreciation for your work, both us and the town folk, that reporter lady came in and told us."

Thomas snickered and said, "She said, and I quote, 'It'll probably completely slip that moron's mind. Just wait; I'll bet he never sees it coming.'" Then he laughed out loud, "Wa-ha-ha! Looks like she was right! You _did_ forget!" I'm pretty sure I was blushing now.

The super elbowed Thomas and said, "But that's beside the point; you're here, so let's party!"

"But I have-"

"But nothing!" Thomas threw his arm over my shoulders and led me forward, "You work too hard! It's your birthday! Relax and have some fun!"

Unable to pull away, I decided to play along. They led me to a table with a cake on it and everyone gathered around. I sat on the work bench and looked at the candles. Since it was my 21st birthday, there were also a few bottles of champagne on the table. **(AN: There were varying opinions on how old Jessie and James are, so I'm going with 21 and 20 at the time that Meowth left.)**

I thought about what to wish for. Things were going well, as far as I was concerned, so I simply wished for a better tomorrow for the three of us; Jessie, myself and Meowth. I blew out the candles and everybody let out a cheer. One of them popped the champagne open and poured everyone a glass. One of the women handed her son a cup of apple juice instead. I reached for a glass of champagne and took a small sip. As soon as it hit my tongue, I fought hard to not spit it out. I didn't want to be rude so I swallowed it and forced a smile as it burned down my throat. When everyone started talking with each other, I discretely threw the rest over my shoulder.

We ate the cake and I talked with everyone for a short while, politely refusing another glass of champagne because I still needed to work on that wardrobe later; it wouldn't be good to get drunk. When it came time for presents, I got a gift basket from my boss, some new carpentry tools from Thomas, and various gifts from my customers. The boy (Arnie, I believe?) walked forward last, shyly holding something behind his back. I remembered the project his mother asked for; a ¼ scale wooden Poochyena with wheels on its legs.

He held his hands out and offered me a wooden duckling. The edges were rough and the bill was slightly misaligned. I got down on one knee and took it. He said, "When I grow up, I wanna make things! Just like James!"

I smiled and ruffled his hair, "You're on your way. Just keep practicing!"

After another short while, I managed to convince everyone that I still had work to do if I wanted to deliver on my most recent design. I thanked them for the party and the gifts before making my way back to my apartment. I set my gifts on the counter to figure out where to put them later and set the duckling on my nightstand. I was filled with some sense of pride.

_Someone wants to be like me… Given the path that I took to get here, that might make him reconsider… Still, it's nice to be appreciated._

Patting Growlie on the head and scratching behind his ears, I sat down and got back to work on carving the first Kingdra's eye.

* * *

**Sorry for the ****_painfully_**** short chapter, but my final exam is next week. After that I can devote more time to this… between summer school… Help. :(**


	11. Chapter 10: Following the Footprints

Chapter 10: Following the Footprints

**-Rio's POV-**

Five days have passed since we got back from exploring Sky Peak and a few things have happened since then. Dash volunteered to lead the group that wanted to evolve to Luminous Spring since he had been there before. Rose evolved into a Kirlia, becoming more athletic, but not by much, so Damus still has her on physical endurance training. Vlad evolved into a Haunter, gaining hands and remembering the move Shadow Punch. Only problem is that we constantly had to make sure that both of his hands were with him, otherwise he would send them through the ground to pull pranks. Siltram evolved into Muk, but he didn't like the size change; he said that it made him look too intimidating to get information. So when in Treasure Town, he would use Minimize to make himself a more "chat-friendly" size.

We found three more rare items at Croagunk's Swap Shop. Gastly Veil; an orb filled with purple gas that, when in the Treasure Bag, makes Vlad almost completely invisible in foggy weather. In addition, we found the Protect Mask for Dash, which absorbs the damage from Ground-type moves and converts it to energy. He decided to keep his necklace on and have the mask stored in the Treasure Bag to use its effect instead of wearing it because it makes him "look like a dork." For Damus we found the Perish Torc, a black necklace with a red jewel. When he's attacked, sometimes the necklace will release a sound similar to the move Perish Song which will drain the opponent's energy until they faint.

With one of the TMs that we found on a mission, I learned Focus Punch. I don't like the charge-up that it requires, but Meowth said that I'd figure out a way to work with it. I offered it to Hogan and Savage instead, but Hogan said that it would be better for me since I'm faster and, therefore, would be more likely to land the hit. Savage just looked at me confused and said, "Why should I wait to charge up when I can just Thrash their ass?" **(AN: I actually checked the base stats and Pinsir are faster than Riolu, but I feel that the move suits Rio better.)**

While on a mission to Mystifying Forest, Damus recruited an Eevee. Unsure what to nickname her, he sent her back to us (we had been training at the dojo that day), along with the message that she was a new recruit. Meowth had trouble coming up with a nickname, since Eevee can evolve into so many different forms. He settled on Cathy. Damus came back later having finished the missions with just Dash's help. **(AN: The nickname is actually a hint to which form I'm going to evolve Eevee into.)**

Also, with all of the missions that we've gotten done since we got the ability to divide the team into squads, we were promoted to Super Rank yesterday after getting Diamond Rank 3 days before. After getting past Gold Rank, it made me wonder just how many ranks there were.

As we walked to meet with the others at Spinda Café, we saw Siltram at the crossroads, talking with Mr. Mime. Siltram looked at us and waved us over as Mr. Mime kept talking, unhindered by our arrival.

"…whose fame stretched across this very entire world. Truly he had a reputation that all explorers aspired toward. But this great explorer, he went missing while he was exploring Blizzard Island, far in the southwest. Many an exploration team set out to rescue the great explorer. But one and all, they were turned back by the bitter cold and swirling blizzards till none dared try again. It is a tale from many years ago."

Meowth raised his paw, "Question." Mr. Mime turned to Meowth and he continued, "If it's an 'island', then how'd they get there in da first place? I don't do da swimming thing." **(AN: In my opinion, a valid question that never gets addressed in this game. So I'm using fan fiction powers to make s*** up.)**

"Oh, there's a network of pathways that criss-cross the sea. Can you unroll your map?" I did so and he pointed at a spot between Drenched Bluff and Craggy Coast, "It's shielded by high cliffs, so it's easy to miss if you're not looking for it. Nobody knows how they got there, but they lead to all sorts of mystery dungeons in the southwest sea."

He looked around and leaned closer, whispering, "There also have been rumors. They say that the explorer Scizor was searching for an amazing treasure." He stood up straight again, addressing all three of us, "You're an incredible team, Team Righteous, what with saving the world and all. No exploration teams have gone to Blizzard Island since the rescue efforts were called off years ago. By any chance, would you be willing to go, Team Righteous? I hear that Blizzard Island is in the southwest of the map."

On the map, the clouds parted over the lower left corner, revealing an icy island. I looked back up and the three of us looked at each other. Meowth tilted his head in the direction of Spinda Café, as if saying, "Plannin' time." We went down the stairs and sat around the table with the other members of the team.

"So, Siltram found us a lead," Meowth started and everybody leaned closer. "'Cordin' ta Mr. Mime, some famous explorer was chasin' some great treasure on a place called Blizzard Island. Catch is… he went missing. But we can do better; after all, he was alone, but we're a team!"

I was amazed how he managed to take such a serious danger and make light of it. The tension in the room decreased and everyone seemed more hopeful.

"Now, who wants ta come wit' Rio an' me ta go check out dis island?"

The recruits all seemed to think hard about it, Hogan spoke up first, "Don't think I'd be good for standing against the cold. No fur, after all."

I nodded, "That's okay, Hogan."

"After Sky Peak, I don't think that I can risk freezing over on Blizzard Island," Siltram said with a shudder. Dash nodded, "Same here."

Damus turned to us, "My kind are used to harsh climates. You can count on me."

Meowth smiled, "Thanks, Damus. Anybody else?" Cathy started to speak, "I'll-"

"No," I cut her off, "I'm sorry, Cathy, but I don't want you getting hurt. You should start off training at the dojo today."

Cathy pouted, "But that's boring!"

Meowth sighed, "We all gotta do it sometime, Cathy; and since Damus is comin' wit' us on this mission…" He looked around, then pointed, "Dash. You're overseeing the new gal's training." Dash nodded.

Meowth turned back to the others, "Vlad."

"Hm?"

"Didja recon Midnight Forest, like I asked ya to?"

Vlad nonchalantly observed his claws, seeming pleased with himself, "As a matter of fact, I _did_. Mainly populated by Bug-types, with three Grass-type species, and also inhabited by Raticate. Any decent Fire or Flying-type Pokémon would tear straight through the forest. I slipped in and out without anyone knowing I was there."

"Huh. We don't got either of those types. Oh well, guess it'll hafta wait. Anyway, since you're free, dat means ya can come wit' us on dis mission. Cold doesn't bother ya, right?"

Vlad looked over, "Very well; and I'm a _ghost_ what do _you _think?"

"Point taken. Now, missions; we got a challenge letter-"

"I'll take it!" Both Hogan and Savage called at the same time. They both turned to each other and glared.

"You got the last one," Hogan argued.

"Well you get to go on more f***ing missions!"

"Ever wonder why, Mr. attack-everything-that-moves?"

"Ahem." They both turned to Rose, "Why don't both of you go? If one of you can handle it, then surely it'll be a breeze for both of you."

"Dat's actually a pretty good idea considerin' who's callin' us out; a Steelix and his buddies (prob'ly more Rock-types) at Amp Plains. It might take both of ya." Meowth slid the letter over and Hogan snatched it up and read it over.

"Also, Rose. Here's your first mission." He slid an envelope over and she opened it up, reading the paper. Meowth continued, "An escort; the guy's looking for a secret chamber in Waterfall Cave. He knows where it is, but he needs protection." Rose put down the paper, muttering to herself as if thinking aloud. Meowth raised an eyebrow, "Wouldja feel more comfortable if someone went wit' ya?"

Rose looked up and shook her head, "No, it's fine. I can handle this."

Hogan put the bag of items he had from his last mission on the table, "You'll probably need that, then."

Rose picked up the bag, "What's this? Won't you need it?"

"Apples, Oran Berries, couple of Reviver Seeds; the essentials. And you'll probably need them more. Escorts always try to 'help', but they get hurt, and they _never_ bring their own items." **(AN: This is how I feel about every escort mission I've ever had to do.)**

Rose hung the string over her shoulder, "Well, thank you- Ah…" The bag dragged at her feet because the string was too loose. "Uh, sorry, is there a way to adjust-"

Hogan got up and walked over, "Yeah, took me a bit of time to figure it out." He reached over and loosened the knot of string on Rose's shoulder and then adjusted the length so that the bag hung at her waist. He re-tied the knot so that it stayed adjusted. Rose blushed red and then fumbled as she reached for the mission letter. Once she picked it up, she hurriedly said, "Th-thank you, I'll handle the mission!" and then she teleported away.

I chuckled to myself. _No wonder I felt that all those days ago. She's got it bad._ I looked at Hogan, who just shrugged his shoulders, then continued reading the challenge letter for details. _Aaaand he's clueless. Am I the only one who knows?_ I looked around and everyone else seemed to have already forgotten about the awkward situation and moved back to the briefing.

"Guess you're on standby today, Siltram. Just… do what ya usually do when you're waitin'. Try ta keep an eye out for missions if ya got a chance, though." Siltram shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Alright, so let's move on out!"

Hogan and Savage left the café right away. Dash shouted a quick "Race you there!" to Cathy and then charged off. Cathy sighed and then ran off after him. The four of us got up and I waved bye to Siltram as we left. After putting extra items in storage and replacing used items, we left for the pathways that Mr. Mime told us about. I was taking the lead, but Meowth fell into step with me, Vlad and Damus trailing behind.

"Hey, Rio. Ya notice how Rose acts all funny around Hogan?"

I looked at him surprised. _He _really _doesn't know? I thought you were sharper than that, Meowth! Wait…_

I raised an eyebrow, "You're barely noticing now?"

He raised an eyebrow back, "Yeah, why? You know sumpin'?"

I said nothing and just grinned back. Meowth's eyes narrowed, "What's wit' da smug look?" I just grinned wider. He sighed, "Fine, yuk it up. Ya know sumpin' dat I don't. Happy now? So spill it." _Oh, that's not enough Meowth. It's not about knowing something that you don't…_

I stuck out my tongue and practically sang, "I'm not telling."

Meowth glared, "Hey, you can't do that! I admitted it! Ya _hafta_ tell me."

_Now's my chance! _I shook my head, still grinning, "I can't. Do you know why?"

He tilted his head, "Why?"

"_Long story._"

He stared at me speechless; it felt good to throw his own deflection back at him. He sputtered and then shook his head, "Aw, dammit, I walked right into dat one. Fine, don't tell me. I'll figure it out soon enough."

"I'm sure you will." I was still grinning from my small victory as we continued on. _Really, you don't have to sense emotions to know what's going on. It's written all over her face…_

* * *

**Let it be known that Mystifying Forest is the ****_worst_**** place to recruit a team member. All of the traps; and the Pokémon wander around in circles, making them next to impossible to find without a Radar Orb. And, on top of that, I was also looking for a female Eevee. You know the female gender ratio? I do now; 12.5 percent! I spent ****_hours_**** in Mystifying Forest with all of its frustrating traps and enemies trying to find a female Eevee and successfully recruit it. I ****_wish _****things went as smoothly as I wrote them.**

**PS: More Author Notes than I've had in any chapter I've ever written…**

**PPS: I'm free! Exams are over for me! I know I still have summer school, but I don't care right now!**


	12. Chapter 11: Challengers, Recruits and-

Chapter 11: Challenger's, Recruits and Ice, OH MY!

"Aw, come on! The path is under da water?!"

"Under the water" was exaggerating a bit. The path was submerged, yes, but only to about ankle-depth. Also, you could clearly see the shadow where the path was and where it forked.

I put a hand on his shoulder, "Meowth, a little water never hurt anybody."

He looked at me, "Clearly, ya've never been hit with a point-blank Water Gun. Besides, I'm a cat; cat's hate water."

"Really?" Vlad chuckled, "I'll be sure to remember that for my next prank."

Meowth looked over his shoulder, "Try it, an' you'll find out how a Shadow Claw feels."

"Oh, come now! Can't you humor me and at least _pretend_ to be scared or nervous?"

"He knows that if he does, then you'll just keep doing it," Damus added.

I sighed, "How about we just move on? We have a long path to cross."

Damus turned to me, "I second Rio's plan; this banter is getting us no closer to completing our goal."

Meowth pointed forward, "Alright then, let's go. I'll dry my feet off when we get to da island…"

**-Dash's POV-**

"Hold still, will you?!"

I chuckled as Cathy kept chasing me, trying to pin me down. After a bit of training in the Dragon Maze, she learned Growl, but she found herself getting stuck on learning Quick Attack. So to help her get past this wall (and have some fun on this training session), I gave her the challenge of hitting me with an attack. By my understanding, if she used Quick Attack, she should be able to hit me.

But nobody ever said I had to make it easy for her, did they? I sure didn't.

"C'mon, Slowpoke! I can see those Tackles coming yesterday! Pick up the pace!"

"Did you leave your eyes behind? I'm over here!"

"I swear, you're getting slower as we go. Are you _sure_ that you can do this? Maybe we oughta go someplace more your speed, like Beach Cave."

"SHUT UP!" she screamed at me. She tried tackling me again, but I dodged. As she went by, something set off my static electricity. I looked down and there were drops of water on my leg. Then I heard a sniffle. She was facing away from me, but tears were falling to the ground.

_Oh, no… I didn't mean to insult her that bad._

"H-hey, come on, I didn't mean it."

"Maybe, but you're right. How can I be useful to the team if I can't do this?"

I took a step closer, "No, really, I was just making that stuff up; it's how I fight."

"What?"

I took another step closer, "Everybody on the team has their own fighting style. Rio fights to his last breath with moves like Endure and Reversal, Meowth strategizes and out-predicts (seriously, the guy can think _circles_ around me), Siltram has his sludge body to work with, Hogan is a well-rounded fighter that can take as much as he dishes out, Savage is just plain brutal, Damus has his super-serious can-do attitude that helps him focus, Rose has her psychic attacks and is working to sharpen her physical ability, Vlad has his confusing moves and ghost-body, and I have my trash-talk and speed."

Sniffling again, with a bitter tone, she said, "How is this supposed to make me feel better? You're just reminding me of how inadequate I am compared to everyone else…"

I walked up next to her, "The point is, every member of the team figured out what to best use to their advantage. You'll find yours. I'm sure of it!"

"I already did."

"Huh?"

Out of the blue, she tackled me, sending me sprawling on the ground. My jaw fell open, not from having the air knocked out of me, but from the shock. She was looking at me now and her face was completely dry and she had a triumphant grin on her face, "One attack, right?"

I slowly got up and walked over, towering over and looking down at her. She looked up, completely unafraid and unashamed, her grin never slipping.

"You tricked me."

"You said one attack; I landed one attack. Never said it had to be Quick Attack. Plus, _you're _the one that said to find what to 'best use to my advantage.'"

I tried to keep a serious face, but it started slipping. I let out a chuckle before going into a full-tilt laugh. I wiped away a tear, "Yeah, I did say that, didn't I? Oh, boy, I'm never going to hear the end of this. I've created a monster."

"Aw, relax; I was pulling stuff like this in Mystifying Forest too. I just never thought to use it in a fight."

"Seriously, though, it won't work on just anybody. You're lucky that it was _me_ training you and not Damus. He wouldn't have been affected by your little display; that guy always means serious business. He'd probably give you a lecture about 'maintaining composure'."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now can we keep training in these mazes, or are you going to keep trying to pass the time with challenges?"

I huffed, "Well, excuse_ me_ for trying to have some fun instead of just going in and out of the mazes."

**-Hogan's POV-**

_Well, well… Looks like this challenger likes some type diversity._

Steelix didn't have other similar-typed allies; he had a Houndour and a Gengar. I thought hard about how to approach this.

_What would Meowth do?_

In my mind's eye, I imagined Meowth pacing back and forth talking, "Dat Gengar is big trouble, ya know how Vlad has a ton o' moves ta mess wit' others. Take 'im out first." My image of Meowth readied Shadow Claw. **(AN: Hogan is a simple fellow. Images help him think.)**

The image poofed away. _Don't have Shadow Claw… What would Rio do? Wait! I got it!_

"Savage, you take-" I looked to my side to see that Savage had already charged in and was taking on Houndour, unafraid of the flames._Well, at least he's taking on the right one. Now to track down my target._

The Gengar had already disappeared. I charged forward, pretending that I was going for Steelix, and activated Foresight. Everything I saw had a red tinge now and I looked around as I kept running. I spotted him sneaking up on Savage, so I changed my direction and made a beeline for where he was.

I readied Brick Break and jumped, hitting him in the side of the head. He screamed in surprise and tumbled as he fell to the ground. Suddenly, a sandstorm whipped up and I got sand in my eyes. After I cleared the sand out, Gengar was gone.

_Dammit! Where'd he go?! Alright, think! What would- What would Vlad do if you were fighting him? He wouldn't come back into the open, that's for sure. Not if his opponent had Foresight._

"WHAT THE F*-"

_Oh no! Savage!_

I ran over to where I last heard him and blocked a Flamethrower. Savage was on the ground asleep. After the fire stopped I charged forward and hit the Houndour with Revenge, knocking him back. I took a quick look around and saw Gengar hovering near Savage with a glowing purple pin. I ran and took a leap, using Cross Chop and finished him off, the pin disappeared and Gengar slumped unconscious.

I stomped over to Savage and slapped him square on the side of the face. **(AN: Yes, I know Wake-Up Slap is supposed to do more damage to sleeping opponents, but I'm having it as a non-damaging 'ally' move, because why would you ****_want _****your enemy to be woken up?)**

"OW! What the f***?!"

I pointed to Houndour, "He did it." Then I charged off to find Steelix in the sandstorm he whipped up. I ran for a while, until I heard a swishing sound. I crouched low to the ground and ducked as a giant tail swung over head. One fringe benefit to holding off the evolution; you're a smaller target.

I grabbed onto the tail and climbed up the Steelix, I used Brick Break on his neck and jumped off as he fell to the ground. I heard him scraping against the ground as he got back up.

"S***! Hogan! Look out!" I turned halfway before I got hit by a Flamethrower. The flames hit my left arm and once they stopped I saw that I had a bad burn. I tried moving my arm, but I winced.

"You _motherf***er!_" I heard a muffled yell, which was probably the Houndour. I tried moving my arm. It hurt a bit, but I could still move it. Sort of. Odd thing was, I felt my adrenaline start pumping faster. The pain in my arm was pretty much forgotten as I felt fresh power fill my body. **(AN: Guts, Raises attack if Pokémon is suffering; i.e. no pain, no gain.)**

I looked up as I heard the swishing noise again. Steelix's tail was coming straight down at me. Instead of dodging, I held up my arms and caught it. The ground under me caved slightly, but I stayed standing. Grinning, from the achievement or the absolute _mad rush_ I'm feeling right now, I can't tell, I pull on the tail and spin him around, flipping him over my shoulder and jumping as his head falls to the ground. Using the whiplash on his tail, I slam it onto his head using Submission, knocking him out.

"Alright! Alright! I give! Your friend beat the boss! Just… stop!" Rubbing my arm, I looked over and Savage was still beating up the Houndour, who already had a bunch of bruises on him.

"Savage, we won. Quit beating up the Houndour." I raised my hand, but winced. With the rush gone, I could feel all the pain I was ignoring, including the new bruises I'll have for that Submission stunt.

_Ow… Hehe, I'll be feeling this tomorrow. Was a good fight, though. I oughta see Chimecho while I'm waiting for Steelix to meet with us about the reward._

**-Meowth's POV-**

"Brrr! They don't call it 'Blizzard Island' for nuttin'."

We stayed at the shore of the island and there was snow on top of the sand. The water leftover on my feet was already frosting. I shook it off, trying to keep my feet from freezing to the ground. Two frozen trees marked the entrance to the dungeon.

Rio's breath fogged in front of him as he said, "How long do you think Vlad will take?"

"He's going for stealth, just to make a quick reconnoiter, so it shouldn't be much longer," Damus said.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Vlad warped in front of us, using the Escape Orb we gave him. Weird thing was that he seemed a little rattled.

"Th-there's-" He cleared his throat and put on his usual confidence, "There are a multitude of Ice-types, of course, Piloswine, Sneasel, Snorunt and Smoochum; nothing that our friend Rio can't handle. A few Water-types, Golduck, Marill, Azumarill, and Piplup; might be a _little_ troublesome, but not if we work together. There are a few odds and ends in Azurill, Swablu, Vigoroth, Nosepass, Castform and Delibird. All in all, this shouldn't be all that much trouble with the enemies, but this dungeon runs deep over a large expanse."

"Didja make it to the end?"

He shuddered, "Yes. There's a cave at the other side of this dungeon, but… there was something there. Something watching me from within, like it _knew _I was there; I didn't want to be found out, so I used the Escape Orb to return here."

Rio raised an eyebrow, "Something 'knew' you were there? Wouldn't you have been hiding yourself for reconnaissance?"

"That's precisely what I was doing. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was following me with its gaze. I didn't want to be caught alone, so I returned here to bring the rest of you."

_So there's sumpin' powerful at da end of dis here island, prob'ly in dat cave. If Scizor came through here an' went missin'…_

I turned to everyone else, "Well, we're all here now, an' I didn't travel to dis here island just ta get cold feet." Everybody groaned, but I went on, "C'mon, Vlad came back ta bring da rest of us over ta dat cave, so let's shake a leg!"

"I don't have legs; can I shake one of Damus's?" Vlad asked with a grin.

"Just go," I deadpanned. _I liked 'im better when he was nervous._

We went between the two trees and, like always, they disappeared behind us, telling us that we were in the dungeon.

One thing that Vlad was right about was that the dungeon was huge. After 15 floors, I stopped counting. Sometime in the dungeon, Vlad learned Shadow Ball, giving him a move with some range and Damus learned Sucker Punch.

On the 17th (or was it 18th?) floor, we were called out, by what was probably the most ridiculous challenge ever.

"Hey, you!" A Piplup jumped in front of us (from the sound of her voice, a girl.), pointing at us, "I challenge you to a fight!

"Huh?" All of us stopped, and looked at the one who just spoke. Usually, the locals to dungeons never officially challenged us, they usually just attacked. I finally remembered that I could talk, "Uh, kid? Are ya serious?"

"Of course I'm serious! I challenge all of you to a fight; right here and now!"

Rio stepped forward, raising his hands, "Look, I really don't think that it's a good idea for you to challenge us."

She glared, "Why, because I'm a girl?!"

I quickly waved my hands, "Oh, no, we're not openin' _dat_ can o' worms. (We got girl members on our team anyway.) We're just sayin'-"

She charged forward, apparently not wanting to listen anymore. Damus stepped forward and held her back with one leg on her forehead. "We're saying that you don't stand a chance. We're an experienced exploration team." _Ouch. I was gonna put it more gently._

"I won't know until I try!"

Rio leaned over to me, "I think I like this one."

Damus narrowed his eyes, "Then try to get past me." The Piplup growled and her flipper glowed as she used Pound to slap Damus's leg away. Damus's eyes glowed blue and flashed before returning to normal. His shoulders tensed up for a bit, but he got ready again as Piplup charged again. She shot a Bubble attack, but Damus used Double Team to disappear and surround her.

Piplup looked around and then span, shooting bubbles everywhere. She listened carefully and turned when one of the bubbles popped on one of the clones.

_Clever girl; so dis one's not jus' full o' hot air._

She rushed over and jumped, slapping Damus across the face with Pound. Damus took a step back, but just looked down at Piplup with a red mark on his face.

The wind started picking up, blowing some of the snow around, "You've lost."

She scoffed, "You're kidding. You haven't thrown a single attack!"

"Haven't I?"

A giant ball of energy flew in and hit Piplup, sending her flying. She fell to the ground and started struggling to sit up. Soon, she flopped back to the ground, trying to catch her breath. The rest of us moved closer. I went to Damus, "Didja _hafta_ go wit' Future Sight?"

He looked at me, "I saw that she would be all right. Besides, I saw something else; something that I loathe to admit we need."

Piplup took a deep breath and sat up, "Good fight. So you're saying that you need a Water-type? Then I'm your girl. How about it?"

Rio and I looked at each other. It was true that we didn't have a Water-type team member yet, and Piplup can learn some Flying-type moves. That'll let us search out Midnight Forest, soon as we get her up to speed. 'Course, we'll need to send someone with her to protect against Grass-types. Rio nodded and I shrugged my shoulders.

I turned back to Piplup, "Alright, you're in. Now, your nickname… is Penny. Welcome to da team." **(AN: Just a pun on the word "penguin".)**

Penny jumped up, "All right!" The light shone down and a badge appeared on her chest. "Sweet! All right, I'll see you later!" She warped out of the dungeon back to Treasure Town.

"Alright, Damus, why'd ya say dat ya hated ta admit dat we'd need her in da team?"

He turned and started walking toward another hallway, "Because, that's yet another hothead on the team. But I know that we need one. At the very least, she's not another 'Savage'."

Rio and I snickered, and Vlad gasped, "Damus… W-was that a _joke?!_"

Rio and I laughed as Vlad threw a hand over Damus like he was a long-lost brother and annoyed him the rest of the way to the stairs. He backed off when Damus's eyes started glowing again, though.

After a few more floors, Vlad got quiet again as we got to a massive crack in the face of a rock cliff. We took a look at it and I leaned forward, seeing that it went down underground. After a bit, I felt a chill and leaned back. My "creepy needle" was going off the chart.

"Dis is da place where ya turned back? Can't say I blame ya; I feel it too. How 'bout you Rio?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head, "If there's something down there it's too far down for me to detect it."

I rubbed my arms, "I can see why ya wanted all of us here, Vlad. There's a Kangaskhan Rock over there. Let's drop off the extra stuff we found and stock up on supplies."

While we sorted through our stuff, I could see what Vlad meant earlier. It felt like I had a pair of eyes on me the whole time. And I had a nagging feeling that I'd felt this before, but I couldn't put my claw on it.

* * *

**For those who actually care, here are the current levels of the team members (excluding Penny) as of reaching Crevice Cave. I honestly don't know why, I just felt that maybe some would like to know:**

**Rio: Lv. 48  
Meowth: Lv. 47  
Siltram: Lv. 38 (Forgot to mention, he learned Sludge Bomb)  
Hogan: Lv. 39  
Savage: Lv. 37  
Dash: Lv. 39  
Damus: Lv. 44  
Rose: Lv. 28  
Vlad: Lv. 36  
Cathy: Lv.17**


	13. Chapter 12: Beware the Frozen Heart

**In hindsight, the last chapter's title was better for this chapter, so I've changed the last chapter's title and have moved it to this one. Same as last time, I just couldn't help myself with the title, because it suits it so well.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Beware the Frozen Heart

**-Rose's POV-**

I used Confusion on another Barboach, knocking him into the wall before tossing him into the water. So far this job has gone smoothly. I can only hope that it stays that way. If I do well on this, then maybe I'll be able to help on some of the other missions.

"Oh, I've got this one!" The client (a Geodude) used Rock Polish and charged to attack a Tangela. I caught up to him by enhancing my running speed and got to the Tangela first. I used Confusion and threw it across the room.

I turned around to Geodude and said, "Sir, I insist that you stay under my protection." He wasn't really listening though, his jaw was wide open.

"How'd you do that?!"

"Not important. I would appreciate it if you stayed by my side. You asked for help from an exploration team, and that's what I'm here to provide." I smiled reassuringly, hoping he would just drop the subject.

"Fine; the chamber is this way."

I had continued endurance training under Damus for a while, but after a while, he said that my training schedule was up to me now. More often than not, instead of training at the dojo as usual, I would leave town and go to an open field to practice my psychic-athletics. (Unfortunately, this allowed Vlad to slip past me in strength, since I didn't train against other opponents.)

My running was the hardest part. If I tried running for too long a distance, then I was too exhausted to do much else for the rest of the day except limp back to Treasure Town. I learned that, for running, it was better to run short distances and save long distances for teleporting. Though, lately I've tried to rely less on teleportation, and focused more on developing my new ability. So far, the longest distance I can run without any fatigue is a little over three meters.

I tried applying the same principle to my arms for a strong punch. Bad idea. I tried punching a thin tree with a psychic boost. All I got out of it was a few leaves fallen off and a sore hand for the rest of the day. Even with the boost, I still have stick-thin arms. I could probably knock an opponent my size off-balance, but not much more than that.

"We're here."

"Hm?" I looked around and we were in a regular corridor. Geodude had his hand against the wall.

"Hold on. I need to open it." He jumped up and down, waving his arms in a strange dance. At first I thought my client had lost his mind, but then he flipped and slammed both fists to the ground. The section of wall he had his hand on a moment ago crumbled away. He went inside and then came back out holding an Escape Orb.

He grinned, "Thank you for your help! Let's get out of here."

I nodded and held up my badge leading us out of the dungeon.

**-Penny's POV-**

I stood in front of the staircase leading underground. After being warped to the guild, Chimecho pointed me to Spinda Café, saying that the other recruits would be here.

_All right, all right, you can do this! These will be your teammates, so just stay cool and introduce yourself!_

I took a deep breath, puffing up my chest in confidence and marched down the steps. I looked around and saw a few teams gathered around. They all had their badges, but they were different colors. I noticed that the Pokémon hanging close together had the same colored badges. I looked down at my own badge; a bright yellow. I looked around and saw two Pokémon with the same-colored badge. I walked over and, before I lost my nerve, called out, "Yo!"

Both of them stopped talking and turned to me, with an eyebrow raised. A Machop and a Pinsir? Kind of a small team, if you ask me. Counting the ones that were there on the island, that's only 6 before me. Well, I guess if they're all strong, you don't really need a lot of members. From the bandages on the Machop's arm, I'm guessing he's been through some fights.

The Machop spoke, "Uh… Hello?" Then he saw the badge that I had, "Oh! Are you a new recruit?"

I put up an air of confidence, "You catch on fast. Call me Penny. I was sent here from Blizzard Island; shows how tough I am."

He reached out and shook my flipper, "Name's Hogan; that's Savage, welcome to Team Righteous!"

I looked over at the Pinsir, "'Savage'? What kind of name is that?"

He glared, the vein on his forehead throbbing, "What kinda f***ing name is 'Penny'?"

I turned back to Hogan, "Sheesh, who spit in _his_ food today?"

He waved his hand, "Don't mind him; he's always like that."

A new voice behind me called, "Hogan!"

I turned to the new voice, and only saw a blur of white and green. I turned around and a Kirlia was next to Hogan, looking at the bandages on his arm. _Did she just… RUN over there?!_ Not noticing me, she said, "What happened?! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a bit of a burn, and in the end, it _did_ give me the boost I needed to finish off the challenger; guess I'm just lucky. How did your mission go?"

The Kirlia crossed her arms, "Okay, but don't go making a habit of it. My mission went fairly well, thank you for asking. Your items took a lot of the pressure off. Speaking of which," She turned to take off the bag and noticed me, "Oh! Who's this?" As she turned to face me, I noticed the badge on her other shoulder, which had been facing away from me.

Hogan pointed with his unburned hand, "Rose, meet Penny, the most recent recruit; Penny, Rose."

Rose put the bag on the table and walk/glided over to me, extending a hand with a smile, "Very nice to meet you!" We shook hands and I noticed that she had an unusually strong grip for a Kirlia. After the greeting she looked around, "Where's Siltram? Wasn't he on standby?"

_Another one? How many Pokémon are on this team?_

"Yeah, he was on his way out when we got back," Hogan explained. "Said he wanted to squeeze some training in at the dojo since he was on standby anyway. I think he also went out to go sniffing for new leads, but that's just me."

_Such an efficient team… To have separate squads at work at the same time… I better not slouch._

I cleared my throat and said, "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go in for some training too." Then I walked off to go find this dojo in the town

**-Siltram's POV-**

_Phew, that's enough training for today… Dang, I'm getting rusty._

I found that it was harder to fight the way I used to with this new form. Unless I used Minimize, it was hard to dodge by bending or splitting if things got close up. I'll need to come back to the dojo and keep training until I can figure out what to best use. Can't rely too heavily on past strategies; I've gotta figure out how to best use my new form.

While I was waiting around, I withdrew some money to open the boxes in storage for rare items and kept an eye on the items up for trade at the Croagunk Swap Shop, getting the ones for our team members, trading in items that we wouldn't need. I managed to find my item, a Slimy Bow, which lets me absorb damage from psychic attacks. For Vlad, I found the Slip Scarf, which lets his attacks "slip" straight through allies. I'm not entirely sure whether or not to give it to him (He might misuse it to just shoot attacks through us for fun); I should probably ask Meowth about it first. I also found the Pinsir Sash for, you guessed it, Savage. This lets him ignore Reflect and Light Screen, which he didn't see the use of since he has Brick Break anyway, so it sits in storage. Last, I managed to find one low-tier rare item for each of the bosses and the Evolve Charm for Cathy, which is supposed to help her get more out of her training. After putting them in storage, I waited around the café a bit more, and then decided to go training. I even bumped into Hogan and Savage on the way out.

Even though I found a ton of rare items, so far, I had only found one outlaw mission to Craggy Coast during the time that I was waiting. Not very much, but the reward is a Thunderbolt TM, among other items. Since all of Dash's electric attacks need direct contact, I think he'd appreciate some range. Other than that, though, I don't feel like it's been a good day for finding some good missions.

Leaving the dojo, I used Minimize, as usual, to make myself a more friendly size. As I slithered through town, a Piplup ran by, nearly bumping into me. She said a quick "'Scuse me" then ran off, looking around at the intersection before turning towards the dojo.

_Shouldn't be many Piplup around here… Maybe that one was part of an exploration team; pretty sure I saw a badge gleam while she was running by._

Tossing the thought away, I continued to Spinda Café, ready to call it for the day, but I heard steps and looked to see Corphish scuttling down the stairs leading to the guild.

I waved my arm, "Hey, Corphish. How's it goin'?"

He looked up, "Hey, hey! You're one of Rio and Meowth's recruits, aren't you? I'm not doing so good… I just _had _to get away from the guild. Sunflora keeps going on and on about someplace called the Surrounded Sea." Corphish opened and closed his claw to mimic a talking mouth.

I leaned closer, "Really? Well… I… was just on my way to go look at the mission boards. See ya later." I slithered up the stairs toward the guild. Maybe today could be a good day after all.

**-Meowth's POV-**

Crevice Cave had more powerful versions of the enemies outside, and a few new ones. The Weavile, Slaking and Mamoswine were the toughest, since they were so strong, but Rio made quick work of them with our help. We had a pretty close call with a monster house on the 8th floor, but a Petrify Orb made things much easier. And we found a TM for Hyper Beam in the room! That's powerful!

But there was still the one thing in the cave that was worse than any opponent. As we moved deeper and deeper into the cave, I kept getting that chill down my back that told me we weren't alone. I could tell that the other guys could feel it too. Man, I should've asked Penny about it before she warped out!

_Alright, Meowth, think! Ya feel like ya could freeze over any second! Where've ya felt this before? It's right on da tip o' your tongue!_

By the time we got to the rest area, even Damus looked a bit uneasy. His eyes glowed for a moment, but he shut them and said, "Something's blocking my Future Sight; I can't see the end of the dungeon…"

I wrote in the journal and slid it back into the mouth of the statue. I turned to everyone, still shivering, "A-alright, everyone, l-let's move on. W-w-we're almost at da bottom." I cleared my throat and tried to shake off the feeling, just for a moment, "So let's see what there is ta see!"

They all nodded and we moved as a group down the cave. Going down, we had a hard time with the constant hail. But we toughed it out. After four floors, the path ahead widened into a room.

Rio looked around, "Is this the deepest part of the dungeon?"

I stared at the far wall, "Looks like it…" I saw something in the wall. A block of ice.

_Hold da phone… A Scizor is frozen in there!_

We moved closer and Damus said, "This must be the famous explorer Scizor… It seems that he was frozen here when he arrived. But by what?"

A snowstorm started picking up in the cave. Vlad shielded his face and started shivering, "You ask a stupid question…" A tinkling laugh echoed through the cave. But not a tinkling laugh like Celebi's… This sounded evil; or crazy, one or the other.

"Visitors… what a rare sight…" More snow swirled around and something appeared right in front of us.

I screamed. _Now I remember! One o' these almost turned me inta a Meowt'sicle back in da day! Dat's why da feeling was so familiar!_

The Froslass laughed creepily, "Tee-hee… Welcome… I'm Froslass. I play host to the infrequent visitors to this frozen hinterland!" She clasped her hands and tilted her head, "It must have been awfully exhausting for you to fight those blizzards. Please do come closer…" She waved for us to move forward, "You must be chilled almost down to the bone… So let me freeze you solid! All the way down to the bone!"

I looked at the explorer frozen behind her, his eyes wide with shock, and I said, "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't tink I wanna be a parta your little tea party…" My Shadow Claws readied as I got ready for battle.

Froslass spread her arms and a purple wind started blowing toward us. I gasped, "Vlad, get behind me!"

I felt Vlad behind me, which was good. This move, Ominous Wind, it's a Ghost-type move; deadly to Vlad, but just wind to me. Rio and Damus were holding up on their own. I heard Vlad say, "Nothing to worry about, I'm already manning the torpedoes."

One of his hands shot out of the floor and hit Froslass using Sucker Punch. The instant the wind stopped Vlad peeked out from behind me and shot a Shadow Punch from his other hand while the first returned. It hit Froslass square in the face and sent her reeling for a moment.

"Now," Rio shouted. "Let's rush while she's off balance!"

Rio charged forward first, activating Foresight and shining blue light on Froslass. Then he tried to land a Force Palm, but Froslass turned and breathed on his arm, freezing it so that his Force Palm was made useless. Rio jumped back before anything else got frozen.

Seeing it, I shouted, "Dang! Everyone, watch out for her breath! It'll freeze you solid!"

Still behind me, Vlad said, "So keep our distance? Way ahead of you."

Damus's eyes glowed blue as he readied Future Sight. Then his horn glowed as he gathered power for Razor Wind. Rio, with a well-placed punch, managed to break the ice around his arm and moved his fingers around before holding out his hands and firing a weaker version of Reversal. Froslass turned and fired an Ominous Wind, cutting down the force of the attack. While she was distracted, I sent my Shadow Claws along the ground to try to score a hit. She floated out of the way and started weaving back and forth. She fired another Ominous Wind at Damus, but he fired Razor Wind, cutting straight through and hitting directly.

"Now's my chance!" Vlad came out from behind me and rushed over to Froslass. He waved his hands and black waves came off of him. The Froslass just turned and used Ominous Wind, hitting him directly. He bounced against the ground and grinned, "Too late." The Froslass spread her arms as if to use Ominous Wind again, but only a flicker of purple went by before snuffing out.

"Rio…" Vlad called. "An Oran Berry, if you please. I have about three seconds before this lady tries to freeze me…" He caught the Oran Berry and started to crawl away, eating it. Froslass lunged forward, but I thought fast and put my paws to the ground, sprouting the Shadow Claws around Vlad, reaching to attack Froslass. She gasped and tried to back away, but I got her with one of them. Vlad grinned, his energy back, and then slipped into the floor.

The wind started picking up and I knew what was coming, so I dropped to all fours and ran away as the ball of energy hit Froslass. She was knocked back, but kept her balance.

Rio was holding his semi-frozen arm and concentrating. Soon, the frost started melting off and his fist glowed bright blue. He started charging forward, fist wound up, and going for Froslass with Focus Punch. But Froslass turned and blew her ice breath. Rio kept charging forward and soon I couldn't see him in all the frosty air. The breath stopped and I thought that Rio had hit her, but when the air cleared, Rio was frozen solid with the glow on his fist snuffed out and a look of determination on his face.

"Rio!"

Froslass laughed and patted the block of ice, "Such a good expression… Most are too scared to consider that I want to immortalize them…"

I growled and readied my Shadow Claws around my paws, "You'll pay for dat, ya ice-witch!" I started to run forward, but Damus got in my way, his horn already ready with another Razor Wind "She's baiting you; keep your distance." He slashed with his horn and sent a spinning blade of wind at Froslass. This time she just dodged it. I extended my Shadow Claws across the ground and tried to hit her, but she dodged through them, coming closer.

_Crap! I know what she's up to!_

I chased her with my claws, trying to catch her before she got to us. Soon I just called them back and formed them around my paws, but it was too late. She started with her frost breath and while Damus took most of it, my feet were frozen to the ground. As Damus froze, I heard a high-pitched screeching noise, like claws on a chalkboard. Froslass ignored it and turned to me, breathing her frost. As the ice crawled over my body, I had one last thought.

_Vlad's still in da room somewhere… He's our only hope now…_

And I blacked out.

**-Vlad's POV-**

From my position in the wall, I saw Froslass put her hand on Damus and Meowth's ice prisons, respectively. She shook her head, "Tsk tsk tsk… Such poor expressions… Far too angry and terrified to be a good display…"

I felt affronted at her disregard for my teammates, but I made sure to not give my position away. I saw what Damus did. The moment he was frozen, his item activated. The evidence is in how Froslass is clutching her chest. Now it is only a matter of time before she faints, and then I can get everyone out of here.

"I know you are still here…"

I shivered, but remained silent, so that she would not be able to track me.

"You know… _You _are the reason that I kept watch on your team… To see how you interact with them… You are not at all that you pretend to be!"

I grit my teeth, but remained adamant. _Empty threats! None of them are conscious to hear this, so it does not matter what she says! Go on; shout it through all the frozen wastes for all I care!_

Froslass started to cough, clutching her chest tighter, "I was interested, because you were not born a Ghastly… You became one… I can tell… But only certain kinds of emotions can allow that… So, why not tell me?"

After I remained silent, she just continued, "Are you looking for someone…? A loved one, perhaps…?" I clenched my fist and my knuckles cracked. She tilted her head, "Ohhh… Did I touch a nerve…? Who is she?"

"Enough…" I was shaking from an entirely different emotion now.

"Haah… So you're wandering around looking for someone… haah… Are you hoping that she'll accept you, even in your new form…?"

"Enough!"

"Koff…Or perhaps a more accurate question would be who _was_-"

"SILENCE!"

I charged out of my hiding place. I was behind her, so I managed to get to her as she was turning around. She opened her mouth, but I slammed my left hand over it, sinking my claws into the sides of her face. Sure enough, my hand froze, but it acted as a muzzle. With my right hand, I used Shadow Punch and knocked her to the ground. I flew over and continued punching her into the ground with my one hand. My frozen hand cracked and shattered from the multiple impacts, but my essence returned to me, forming a new hand. The Froslass chuckled, "So… koff… You reveal your true nature…"

I held up my hands and readied a Shadow Ball, "That's quite enough out of you, wench."

Her eyes sparked with fear and she screeched, I fired my Shadow Ball, but a flurry of snow swept by and she disappeared before it could hit. Cracking sounds suddenly filled the air and I looked around to see all of the ice prisons, including Scizor's, cracking.

The ice shattered and everyone looked around. Damus sighed in relief and said, "Thank goodness that worked… It was a forlorn hope at best. Good job, Vlad, surviving for the rest of us."

Doing the only thing I could without prompting complicated questions, I grinned and said, "Indeed! I slept that cold off in the wall!"

Rio, thankfully, offered a quick subject-change, "I think that Scizor is waking up."

Scizor shook his head, "Ur… Urf… Wh-where…?" He looked around, "Ah, yes. I recall now. I had been exploring when I was set upon by that beastly Froslass…" He turned to us, "Oh! You're rescuing me, I presume? Forgive me for my lapse in etiquette. My name is Scizor. I am an explorer."


End file.
